Platoon Leader Duty Description - Advice For New Platoon Leaders

Platoon Leaders have tons of responsibilities. In fact,Administration: As the PL, you will ensure that
most civilian and private companies would never giveevaluations, awards, and counselings are done on
a 22-25 year old person the same responsibilities thattime and to standard. Some of these administrative
the Army gives its Platoon Leaders.tasks you will do yourself, while you will simply
So, what are the duties of a Platoon Leader? Listedoversee other tasks.
below are several of the most important duties ofEquipment & Soldier Readiness: Your equipment
PLs.must be ready to deploy at moment's notice. Your
Mission Planning: One of the primary responsibilities ofjob is to maintain a high operational readiness rate
a PL is to plan future training. He or she will draftwith all platoon equipment by conducting PMCS and
operations orders and develop training plans for herscheduled services.
subordinates.Soldier Morale & Discipline: Your job is to is to
Developing Subordinates: As a leader, you have amaintain discipline within your platoon (with the help
responsibility to develop your subordinates forof your Platoon Sergeant). When possible, you should
positions of increased responsibility. This is donetry to improve soldier morale by enforcing Army
through effective counseling, mentoring and militarystandards and recognizing exceptional performance.
education.In summary, platoon leaders have many
Collective Training: Officers are responsible forresponsibilities. The secret to success is to be
collective training and NCOs are responsible forproactive, keep a positive attitude and work with
individual training. A PL will create a Platoon Missionyour Platoon Sergeant as a team. Be humble and
Essential Task Listing and will train his Squad Leadersdon't expect to know it all. Learn from your mistakes
on collective tasks.and continue to improve every day.