He was not just some random reporter. His father was an aristocrat, his mother the daughter of a wealthy American businessman. He had military education and had been appointed second lieutenant of the British army years earlier. He had combat experience from Sudan and India before going to South Africa.

Chances are he had a hands on approach to war correspondence as well.

A smart soldier will accept good ideas in a crisis whether they come from a superior, subordinate or whoever is around if they seem competent. Obviously that comes with some stuff about following the orders of people in charge of you and making a bunch of decisions in the moment but it’s not that unreasonable.

The queue for jokes about a “smart soldier” forms below.

Yeah I feel like the story may be bs