Jeesh...the whole point..which you obviously missed looking at da pwitty pwicshurez is that no, he shouldn't be there, he is nothing special..at all...and he is completely out of his depth. That's why you dislike him...you dislike him for the very exact reason he exists ffs.
THAT is part of the story...the guy is an idiot, out of his depth, not a combat vet, not a detective...he just a humble Joe who has no clue what he is doing. That is the very story (and a huge plotdevice) of our MC being forced and thrown into a setting he has no clue how to deal with!
So, you either accept that scenario and story (because he isn't suddenly going to become the person you think you are and think he should be anytime soon)....or please...just move on...the door is over there --------->
Where are you getting he's not a combat vet? I thing everyone agrees he's been in quite a lot of combat after those first few months where his unit was positioned in reserve. He may not have more experience than Lana(?), but he's peeled off the green, and I got the impression that both his soldiers and command
did think he was more than just lucky when it came to the victories he was associated with. (insert quote from Napoleon about preferring lucky commanders)
I think you've swung the pendulum further from the actual description just like everyone wanting a hyper-competent Reacher type that's better at everything. From what we have evidence of the Officer did seem to have a natural talent at tactics, and applied that successfully consistently. Everything else he's average at (at best). Which is fair and fine. Some of us just want him to be more pro-active at
something, anything. But agreed, he's not an investigator/detective, he's not good at politics, he's only had basic marine hand-to-hand training. Whether he's just a bit above average as a tactical officer or he's a natural and a tactical savant, we don't know, could go either way. You can't say he isn't a combat vet though, he was in a combat mission when the shit with Lady S.'s brother happened.