"X-Ray" Chpts 8-10

There were numerous examples of leadership in this section, but I thought the actions of Crandall really stood out. He realized that the fate of 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry was in his hands and he more than rose to the occasion. Crandall started his extra servitude by bringing in supplies and ammunition, but upon seeing that there was no one to evacuate the causalities he loaded them into his own Huey. Eventually Crandall took over control of directing all flights into the LZ; he kept the mission in mind and the hot LZ barely phased him.
Many of leaders in the Ia Drang Valley utilized the decision making process we discussed in class. Cpt. Nadal's decision to pull back after trying to rescue the cut-off platoon was one example of this. He identified the problem, which was they were in an intense battle, one of their platoons was cut-off, but they were unable to make significant headway in their rescue mission. Nadal then gathered information based upon the number of casualties they were taking and the time of day. He generated possible solutions which were to keep trying or to pull back. He analyzed and compared these solutions, using his NCO's to help in the process and eventually executed the decision to withdraw.