Being a Good Subordinate

Prompting with Suggestion

Working within a leadership environment means that you are going to lead, but you’re also going to follow. While you’re in charge of your team, your SL is in charge of you, and PLT is in charge of them, and so on. You’re always going to be in a position where you’re listening to someone else’s orders, and that means you need to know how to give suggestions and work under orders.

And that’s how you should phrase it— a suggestion. Think of it as gently persuading your superior, you want them to think it’s their idea even if you’re getting what you want. To do that, you need to give a reason why you’re making the adjustment.

Supporting information clarifies the situation and gives context, showing higher leadership that there’s a need to make the adjustment dictated by the situation, not just an excited FTL:

“ASL, suggest we shift fifty meters west to get better eyes on the objective.”

is far more likely to get approval than

“ASL, we need to shift west.”

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Ghosts and Radio Static

The above applies to quiet leadership as well. if you’re in the heat of the session and you’re not getting orders from your SL, you can always prompt them:

“ASL, we’re seeing a lot of fire from the East, recommend we shift 100 meters right to engage.”

“ASL, A1 has been sat here for a while without contact, suggest we begin the assault.”

Giving out orders in the place of your SL is crossing the line and speaking for them, but you can gently begin movement:

“ASL, A1 isn’t seeing much here, we’re going to follow A2 now.”

“ASL, A1 has contact to our East, we’re shifting to the treeline west to engage.”

You've informed your SL, they have the opportunity to refuse, and you are still acting under their command/intent. As we discussed above, if you’re going to flex the plan, you need to communicate that.

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Don't Overstep

Don’t confuse coordinating with other elements as speaking for your SL, though. As long as you’re not directly ordering the other element into new positions or dictating their movement, you’re more than likely fine.

“A2, A1 has line of sight on the objective, recommend you move east.”

is a fine call, whereas the below is not.

“A2, A1, move to Hill 53 and cover A1’s movement.”

Remember, it is always safest to be going through your SL for confirmation by making recommendations and suggestions. You always want to make it clear that they have final say so that you’re not stepping on toes or steamrolling past them. The SL is trying to achieve the same goals you are, and trying to have just as fun a night. You want them to develop confidence so they can get better and help facilitate session, and they can’t do that without effective practice.

Sometimes your SL is going to make a bad decision and stick with it after you make a suggestion. That’s part of playing the game. Say “A1 copies” and carry it out, then learn from the mistake for next time.