Company Command: The Bottom Line [Paperback]

John G. Meyer Jr. (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 233 pages
• Publisher: Byrrd Enterprises; 2nd edition (1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0080410510
• ISBN-13: 978-0080410517
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for all LTs, do it during OBC!, February 19, 2001

By 

Wesley Brian Sargent "blu wonder" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Company Command: The Bottom Line (Paperback)

Less than 1 year out of my OBC, and I was asked twice to take command of my Army Reserve Maintenance Company. The second time I bit! I quickly found this book, and have been reading it day and night to make sure I am covering all my bases. I asked for a list of everything I needed to be thinking about, since I was responsible now for everything my company did or did not do...This book is that list! IT COVERS EVERYTHING AT A MINIMUM YOU MUST BE AWARE OF WITH ANY ARMY COMPANY, RESERVE OR ACTIVE DUTY. MG Meyer does a great job of covering these topics and where to go to find the answers: Taking Command, You and Your 1SG, UCMJ Actions, Personnel/Admin, Training, Supply, Unit Maintenance, and other Misc. Command items. He offers tips on how to do things better, that you won't find in the FM or TM! And he offers stories from other leaders to show realism. This book will help me and my key leadership...I plan to make it required reading at my unit...And I am going to recommend it to my boss! Thanks MG Meyer...you have helped guide a 1LT while he is still fresh in his command...I only wish I would have found this book during OBC so I could have read it prior to taking command. I recommend all 2LTs read this book while you are in OBC and have the time to think about how to apply its knowledge before you do have to take command, it will come along sooner than you think, just a reality of today's military!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome for Company Commanders, September 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Company Command: The Bottom Line (Paperback)

This book will prepare you to be a company commander like nothing else I've found. This book is full of information that you must know as a company commander. Ideally, you should read this book before taking command. If you are all ready a commander you should read this anyway. You won't be disappointed.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little disappointing, February 15, 2004

By 

K. CLARK "the bad captain" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Company Command: The Bottom Line (Paperback)

Before the review, a little bit about me to put this review in context. I am a rifle company commander in an National Guard enhanced infantry brigade. I've had experience as a battalion staff officer, company executive officer and rifle platoon leader.

After reading all of the glorious reviews of this book, i was anticipating something truly useful and worthwhile to prepare for my command. When I received the book, I dove right into it and read it over the course of a day. After reading it, I don't understand how anyone felt that this book was in any way necessary or critical to one's company command.

Overall the book is well written, and has a lot of good information, but it tries to find that elusive gap between a very detailed how-to book (which will inevitably date) and a more philosophical tome which provides few useful details which can immediately be put in the practice. Alas, it falls short of this goal and does not provide much of either.

In addition, Company Command: The Bottom Line, has a somewhat moral high-mindedness to it which seems to ignore a lot of the realities in the Army. I think all of us who take the guidon and assume command would like to be just, fair, never faltering moral beacons who always make the right decision regardless of the consequences, but the sad reality of the Army today is that we are given way, way, way too much to do in the form of regulations, inspections, policies and other administrivia that there is no possible way a commander can do it all and still do what is ultimately the most important job he or she has, training his or her troops for war. What I would have liked to see is some coverage of some of the tricks of the trade that help commander balance these pressures. Some of you might say that this is just a National Guardsman's perspective, given our significant time and resource limitations, but everything I have read, heard and experienced with the Active component tells me these problems certainly exist there as well.

At the end of the day, it isn't a bad book. I think it gives a good review of what command is all about and would be especially useful for the typical lieutenant who doesn't understand the myriad of Army systems and processes that must be mastered by a successful company commander. However, for a mid-level/senior captain with some staff and specialty platoon experience, a lot of this will be a rehash.