Instead of flitting from unit to unit enhancing combat rolls (a reference to ''Squad Leaders leadership rules), the leaders (in ''Grunt'') become conduits for information and control. For instance, to use their full capabilities the NLF (National Leadership Front, or Viet Cong) units must be within eight hexes of their cadre. This reflects their lack of modern communications equipment, which produced a reliance on written messages and sound signals, thus limiting operational radius. It also resulted in units that tended to be more autonomous and were less severely affected by a loss of leadership. So the hardcore NLF units retain their full movement when outside command radius or when their cadre unit takes casualties. This is in direct contrast to the U.S. forces.
The (U.S.) Army's more bureaucratic command structure lead to a very different set of leadership problems. Units, because of the myriad radios they possessed, could operate as far from their leaders as their radios could transmit and still be able to get specific instructions. Unfortunately, this also produced a dependence on contact with higher headquarters...Thus a disturbance in the flow of information, either through loss of a radio or loss of a leader, was far more devastating to the Americans. In the game U.S. squads can be paralyzed for up to three turns if the squad radioman is hit or their headquarters takes casualties.