Lieutenant Jimmy Cross's Leadership During The Vietnam War

Struggling Leadership

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was an Army officer from New Jersey who was drafted and then promoted to lieutenant. While in Vietnam, his ability to be an influential leader, was put to the ultimate test. He was the leader of the platoon, but he was the opposite you would expect from an officer in war. In the beginning, Lieutenant Cross daydreams all the time – sometimes about his love for Martha, a girl who will never love him back, and sometimes about golf with its clear rules and expectations (Team). Even though he signed up to be an officer he was not comfortable being responsible for lives of his men, but instead of ignoring the responsibility, he confronts it before he slips into another daydream.

Lieutenant Cross carried

The first sign of Lieutenant Cross’s exceptional leadership was indicated when Ted Lavender was killed. This calamitous incident occurred when Lavender got shot in the head and was killed while returning from using the latrine. Just moments before this tragedy occurred, Lieutenant Cross was daydreaming about Martha, and how he loved her and how she did not have the same feelings for him. It is while his mind was drifting that Ted Lavender was killed. Lieutenant Cross felt responsible for Lavender’s death. Even though that deaths like this are common he sensed that if his attention had been focused on his men that Lavender death could have been prevented. He felt even more guilt when Curt Lemon was killed by a land mine and he was deeply affected by Kiowa's death at Song Tra Bong where he mistakenly decided to rest his men. These were feelings he would have to carry like a rock in his stomach for the rest of the war (O'Brien). Lieutenant Cross’s turning point came when he finally realized that his responsibility to his men was more important than fantasizing about Martha. He realized that when each of his men’s lives were in danger, he was thinking about Martha and wondering if she was a virgin. Lieutenant Cross decided he must remove all distractions of Martha and home and begin to focus on his responsibilities. These unexpected losses helped Lieutenant Cross recognize his responsibility and aided him to become a leader who did not let his personal life obstruct with his duties as an officer. He burned Martha’s letters and photographs and threw away her good luck charm (O'Brien). No more fantasies, he told himself. Henceforth, when he thought about Martha, it would be only to think she belonged elsewhere (O'Brien). Lieutenant Cross would turn himself into an officer and rid himself of his good luck pebble,