Just like in real life, where there's usually a point man scanning for mines and/or scouting the area when moving in a line type formation, the lead officer is usually not at the very front of a patrol, but in the front half of the patrol. This is especially true for line, column or staggered column style infantry formations when following a preplanned route (e.g. using the 'move to' order for a formation which includes the player).
I'd like to have the possibility to designate one or more to AI take point in the formation. (one of the reasons being that this way I'm not the first one killed when I run into enemy contacts, which is really bothersome in warfare)
Maybe this should automatically reset when being fired upon or switching to danger mode. A 'reset formation' type order should definitely be available to reset the situation to the default setting.