Proactivity

On the second day of Exercise Warrior, when we were on our way to the platoon ambush site in the rain which had been going on since forever, this guy with two plum blossoms on his epaulette and a red beret came up and started talking to the GPMG team. (Or maybe he didn't have his red beret then, but for some reason in my memory his red beret was an inseparable part of him, whatever the rest of his attire.) 'Hi ... what do you think is the MG commander's job? ... It's to look for a job to do. You should never be waiting around doing nothing ... go and find an arc of fire to cover, run somewhere and deploy your guys ...' And then he went off to talk to the trainee platoon sergeant.
Then the only response we could muster, being handicapped by thoroughly soaked attire and a full combat load, was "okay, so it's true that the higher your rank, the more you talk." Now, his comments start to make rather more sense. The MG is a powerful asset, and the commander should be constantly trying to maximise its effect, to get it to work for the rest of the platoon, so that life is made that little bit easier for the whole platoon.