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Colder Than Hell Summary

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Colder Than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir was written and published by Joseph R. Owen in 1996. This book gives us a riveting point-of-view of the early and uncertain days of the Korean War through the eyes of Owen himself, as a platoon leader (PL) in a Marine rifle company. As a PL of a mortar section in Baker-One-Seven-Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment- Owen witnessed his hastily assembled men of a few regulars and reservists (who to mention some that have not gone to boot camp) quickly harden into the superb Baker-One-Seven known today. He makes it known quickly (in the foreword and the preface) that some of the major problems he initially encountered was due to how unprepared his unit was. Owen makes the …show more content…

Lt. Owen's mortar section had little to no experience on the weapon systems that they were working with. He trained them from darkness to darkness with consistent drills in different types of situations. Lt. Owen also admits that despite excess training before the war, their first battles were "far-from-perfect exercises." This made me realize that not only does an officer have to be adept at his duties, but he needs to motivate and instill to his soldiers the same level of proficiency, regardless of peace or war time. Also utilizing complacent time as a means to further train such as when they were at sea. From the lesson of training, I also realized the weight that officers hold when it comes to building trust, motivating, and pushing their soldiers. They are going to expect the utmost level of skill as well as professionalism that you must provide as an officer. In return, it is your right to expect the same level of excellence from your soldiers, being there to push them above the standard and holding them to being experts and professionals. This is a trait that no matter how skilled you or your soldiers may be, there will always be room for constant improvement and

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