Several times during my stay at the 301st we were tasked to do what we called, "drive-aways". We would be whisked off in a bus to someplace and pick up some one else's equipment and drive it to some place else. I am cryptic on purpose...these were usually classified and I don't know how long it is supposed to stay that way. Sometimes we had to train on special equipment before we could move it. It was a lot of fun. On this particular drive-away, we picked up the vehicles and stuff at ...
One of the missions of the 301st Trans (Fort Ord CA) was a general support of the depot activities in the western USA. One of the depots we saw a lot of was just outside Stockton, CA, in Lathrop. They transferred material and equipment from one depot to another, or to ports, or to end users. It usually meant a mission for about 15 tractor trailers lasting a week or more. It was TDY for the drivers (that meant extra money...), so these runs were pretty popular. The other mission of the ...
LH challenged me on my article about the guys in the barracks at Ft Huachuca. I claimed that the Article 15 I got because Cicely attacked the company clerk wasn't my fault. She said, "That's what they all say." She wants to hear the whole story. So here it is, you judge: It was very early in the morning and we were all about our normal get up activities. I was making my bunk and the clerk, one bunk over behind my wall locker, was starting his daily rant about what a crappy soldier Ci...
It was one of those deals, Colonel so-and-so is having a birthday...let's all go sing to him...and have a bite of his cake. I knew him well enough; we didn't go bowling together on Thursday nights, but we were on speaking terms. He was an old guy about ready to retire...and there was cake. We all gathered in the office and sang the song and that's when I saw the cake for the first time. I was a little surprised to see Snoopy sitting on his dog house on a grown-up's cake. The lettering s...
I went to Transportation Corps Senior NCO Course (ANOC) at Fort Eustis Virginia in the fall of 1981. I had been in Germany for more than four years and fully intended to plunge into all the neat stuff you can't get in Germany. The night I arrived I made the mistake of turning on the TV in my BOQ room and discovered cable. In Germany there was one channel (US). When I had left the States, there were three channels and no cable...on this system there were at least 60 channels. I stood t...
In all the old war movies the make up of the platoons was always the same. Big City Italian, smallish Jew, a big ole farm boy, a Pole with an unpronouncable name, Hispanic, Amerind, after WWII there would be a black or two, skinny kid with thick glasses, muscly dumb guy, and of course, the tough sarge with scars and memories. Give or take a few types, there was always this mix. And the crazy thing is, I found the Army to be just like that outside of Hollywood, too. I used to love the old...
Some time in '58 or '59 it was decided that the USS Etlah, AN-79, would return to the 32nd Street docks to be unfitted for storage, her pennet retired. Her departure date was to be spring of '60. This ship had been cruising the waters of the West Pacific for many years but had not done a crossing in a LONG time. So the crew was tasked to put the Etai (Japanese for "ouch") in "shipshape". So in between cruises to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and one adventure to Okinawa, there was furious act...
We were sitting in the snack bar in the basement of Greely Hall, the admin headquarters at Ft. Huachuca. I was processing in and ran into Mike and Jimmy, a couple of guys I had known in Vietnam. Mike had left about a month before me and Jimmy had been back for a couple of months. We were goofing off...I was supposed to be upstairs in one of the marathon trail of offices I had to go through to be processed and they were just hiding from work. They were filling me in on what Huachuca was li...
Back as far as I remember, there have been judges who thought it was the mission of the military to build men...Maybe because in the sixties the Marine motto was..." The Marine Corps Builds Men"...so the judge would give some ot the miscreants the choice of two years in jail or three in the Army. The Marines normally screened these guys out but the Army took 'em. Over the years I came across several of these fellas...but a few stick out in my memory because they really were gangsters.\ T...
I got crosswise with a dear lady because I poked a little fun at the Air Force in my last article. No offense was intended and to illustrate the nature of the relationship between the services...I offer this: I was walking down the street with Skip, a Marine major who was from my home town...in fact we remembered seeing each other around in our high school days even though we went to different schools in different parts of town. Anyway, as we strolled deep in meaningful conversation, a y...
It was the middle seventies at Fort Ord, CA. It was before we started wearing our shirts outside our pants and nothing was allowed to be on the belt...no cell phone holsters, no multi-tool packs and especially no knives. The first two were not hard to obey since neither had been invented yet...but the knives were another story. Everyone wanted a Buck (or cheap imitation) folding, lock blade knife. They were sharp and cool and too heavy to carry in your pants. The carry pouch was serious ...
She came to Patch off a messy divorce, a little wounded and looking for a way to regain some status and confidence. She was a Marine captain and took her new post as the assistant Protocol Officer at EUCOM. In spite of her ambition, she came across as uncertain, hesitant, and more than a little meek. A couple of the resident Marine officers came by and filled her head full of Marine stuff and tried to get her fired up and ...Marine-ish. Which led to the day of the CINC's update. USEUCOM ...
An M109 is a self propelled Howitzer that is almost as big as a tank. In fact, many folks unfamiliar with military equipment would call it a tank...it travels on tracks (kind of like a bulldozer) , has a turret and a big gun barrel sticking out of it...sure...it looks like a tank. Except that the sides are flat, the armor is thinner, and it isn't a tank...it is a howitzer that can move around without being towed. In our cavalry squadron in Bad Kissingen, we had a howitzer battery attached...
It was a rare moment when we all had some slack time together. Doug was the company clerk, Van the mail clerk, Country worked in supply and I honestly don't remember where Tommy worked, but our schedules were all scattered. It was in the late evening, we were all layiing around getting ready to turn the lights out when Tommy said, "I sure would like a bowl of popcorn." It was like the old thing about "don't think about an elephant". In short order we were all lamenting the fact that t...
It is silly, I know, but I can't help myself. When that commercial for Arby's comes on and the Chimps start the "Riverdance" style dance, I have to stop what I am doing and watch it. I just love it. I have no idea how they do it but it is very real looking...right down to the expressions on their chimp faces. Over the years, there have been some great ads on TV. I used to love the beer commercials in the 70's using pro football players. My favorite was Bubba Smith touting the "easy ...