In most Army units, you have two or three times a day when the whole company lines up by sub-units and accountablity is made for each soldier and information is passed out, we call these occasions "Formations". For most soldiers, the first formation is Reville, you stand and salute the flag going up, then are released for breakfast, or go do you morning exercises (PT) or is some cases, go to work. The next formation is usually called "Work Call". Squads and platoons line up and are given pertinent information and whatever else the leaders need to say. After lunch, most units have a second work call formation and then go off to finish the rest of the work day. In some units they have a "Retreat" formation (No, Whip, that ISN'T when they go running away from the enemy!) where they wrap up the day and salute the flag going down. There are lots of other kinds of special formations that can happen at any time, like for ceremonies, alerts, special accountability needs, etc.

Now that you know all that, I gotta tell you about the main motor pool in Fort Ord. It was a huge, I do mean HUGE, paved area where probably two brigades worth of vehicles were parked. There could have been a thousand trucks, jeeps, commercial vehicles, combat vehicles and other kinds of equipment; generators, light units, tentage, etc. kept in this motor pool...and it wasn't the only one, just the main one. It was built in the 1930's and 40's. The shops were very large, the doors of the shops were twelve to fifteen feet tall, had dozens of glass panes in the upper half and weighed A LOT. It was on a hill and our shop was the last building on the west side of the motor pool, and the highest on the hill. We had our work call formation right in front of the shop.

It was just before our afternoon work call, about 1245 or so, about 100 of us almost in formation, some finishing their sodas, or coffee, some getting that last drag off their cigarettes, some joking and making plans for after work. A pretty relaxed bunch. I noticed the ground vibrating a little. Fort Ord is almost entirely built on sand dunes so shaky ground isn't uncommon, especially if someone is moving heavy equipment around. That was what I figured...heavy equipment. If you have ever been anywhere near an M-1 or M-60 in motion, you KNOW they can shake it down. I started looking around for whatever it might be. The vibration hadn't become any more intense, but there was something a little unsettling about it. I had experience tons of earthquakes ( I AM from California!) but this didn't feel like that...still, it was very unsettling. I have also experienced tons of explosions. What happened next was more like a heavy explosion than an earthquake. The earth seemed to drop then lift, very suddenly. At the same time several other things happened. All of the huge, tall, heavy shop doors blew open at the same time...in every shop. Almost all the windows blew out. Vehicles bounced. Some of the buildings torqued and snapped back. And 100 US Army trained, experienced, light fighter qualified soldiers immediately stampeded across that motor pool as fast as I have ever seen them move. I had no idea where they were going, that motor pool covered at least four city blocks, probably more, and there was no place out there where the earthquake wasn't. It was hilarious.

The Morgan Hill earthquake, as it has become known, was a 6.2 . It happened in April of 1984 and at the time it set a record for the stronges lateral movement (1.3 gravities, whatever that means) ever recorded. Morgan Hill is about 50 miles north of Fort Ord, we got a good taste of that record. I told everyone to call home, either to check on folks or to let folks know that their soldiers were okay. Dumb idea, no cell phones and the lines were quickly overloaded. I got home and my youngest told me all about it, she was 3, and showed me where the stairs had separated from the wall and then told me all about it again.

But the memory that sticks is the sight of all those young soldiers, so fit and strong, trained to war...running and screaming like little girls (actually, a few of them WERE girls) across that motor pool.