I’m taking a Platoon in a couple days and signing for a Stryker Plt’s worth of equipment. What advice, do’s and don’ts does everyone have?

Touch it touch it touch it

As all these other guys have said, verify, verify, verify. Don't take anybody's word for anything. If there is one item they cannot produce, sign for nothing. This is the benefit of 24 years in the Air Force, equipment custodian for 20 of them, and equipment deployed around the world. (One account was $1.5 million.)

As a former Supply Sergeant who oversaw Millions of dollars of equipment in my time (one unit had sign for 25 uparmored Hummers and ITAS systems worth just under $25 million not counting everything else in the unit) the one piece of advice I can give is to verify everything by sight & subreciept the equipment to your squads ASAP. If you don’t you may end up owing the army for things you never actually had in the first place.

1. Make sure your have touched every single item you sign for. 2. If someone says its in maint, get a copy of the workorder. 3. If the item is sub-handreceipted, either make them bring the item(s) to you, or go to them. If they cannot produce, Reoprt of Survey time. Follow through. 4. If items are on scheduled maintenance, make sure its done. 5. Lastly, ensure your sub-hand receipt holders are in fact using SHR. A little training is a lot easier than Report of Surveys.

Remember: You will likely sign a major-end item sub-hand receipt (i.e. Vehicle, Stryker, 4 ea), while your soldiers will sign line-item hand-receipts... so: check those Shortage Annexes!! You need the most up-to-date version of the -10 manual to make sure that all the BII and any (unit) authorized ASL are hand as well. Don't walk in and "buy" all the shortages from the last guy!! Good Luck!

1) Most of it has been said, so I will just tell you the intro speech the best PL I ever had gave his subordinate leaders. He pulled PSG and SLs in the office and told us the following:
Guys, I don't know shit. I expect you to teach me and guide me. When we are in this office, tell me when I am f*cking up. Tell me what I am doing wrong, when I step into your lane, or when I leave something undone. BUT. But, I make the final decision, and the moment we leave this office, there better be no one who even begins to doubt that I am in charge.

And that is how he ran his Platoon. He was willing and eager to learn. Ample opportunity to disagree and offer suggestions behind closed doors. Once we left the office everyone was lockstep on "the LTs plan" regardless of personal opinion. And it was ALWAYS "the LTs plan," even if not a single idea came from him. Man, I miss that PL.

Also: Praise publicly, Criticize privately
Never pass up an opportunity to learn
Never pass up an opportunity to recognize your Soldiers
Never pass up an opportunity to train
Tough, but fair
Don't be afraid to ask - ask your PSG, your peers, the 1SG, the CO.
Counsel your PSG and SLs formally every quarter. Counsel them informally every day.
Trust, but verify.
And lastly, enjoy it. Almost every field grade or GO I have ever talked to said they had the most fun of their career as a PL.

Don't sign for it if you can't see it.

If they say "we never had that." It still needs to be on order. If they say "it's on order" make sure you see a document number. In the end you should see every single item you're required to have, or a valid order.

Start with easy layouts first to get your system figured. Do not assume the previous PL did things correctly. He may have done it incorrectly or be attempting to cover up missing gear.

Get the TM for EVERY item from your supply sergeant, or on your own on ETM.
I did every layout with 3 2062s and the TM. The 2062s were in order by item from the TM for both BII and COEI. One was my copy for notes and to be able to create a shortage annex. The other two were to sign the property down right then and there to my section leaders or whoever was signing for the gear. My entire property book was signed down before I actually signed the books.

If an item is missing and should be present for the layout (not already a shortage or admitted loss), stop the layout and do it when everything is accounted for. Once the items are accounted for, start from the beginning again. The last layout I did for my Strykers was redone several times when we resuffled the platoon and had to resign out the Strykers. Do not accept anything if it is not there.

Good luck and congratulations. Being a PL is the best job out there. My time as a PL is almost over and I assure you that it goes far quicker than you could imagine.

Lots of good advice. Only a couple of things I would add:

Understand the difference between Components of End Item (COEI), Basic Issue Items (BII) and Additional Authorization List (AAL). The first two you are required to have. The third is based on leader decisions.

Make sure all component lists, TMs, etc are in fact the current version and document what version and date was used for your inventory. Those lists above do change and if an item is added in an updated list it can be the difference between paying and not.

Finally. I saw a recommendation to sign 100% to your PSG when done. While not bad advice, I would counter that it is better to sign over to your squad leaders. They are YOUR SLs, and this emphasizes their position in the chain of command and also avoids the impression that you are just passing it off and don’t really care all that much. Your PSG doesn’t have to be signed for 100% to care about supply accountability. He should care because you care.

Best of Luck!