DAY 74 - COUNTING DOWN TO THE 50TH

Good Morning, Class of '64

Army Logo

“Out of every one hundred men,
ten shouldn't even be there,
eighty are just targets,
nine are the real fighters,
and we are lucky to have them,
for they make the battle.
Ah, but the one, one is a warrior,
and he will bring the others back.”
Heraclitus

Another Day with Larry

The Army

(Part Two)

In the summer of 1971, I got orders to Vietnam. Then that fall, I got amended orders sending me to Korea instead of Vietnam - the stand-down caught me. I was disappointed and angry - for 5 years, I had trained and prepared for Vietnam. It was a real let-down.

I arrived in Korea after an 18-hour flight in a jam-packed charter Boeing 707. I was promptly assigned as the Club Steward of the Eighth Army Golf Club. The assignment was a result of a casual comment made by The General. He wore three hats and four stars: Commander, Eighth Army; Commander, U.S. Forces, Korea; and Commander, U.N. Forces, Korea. He got what he wanted, and he had said, in an offhand manner, that the next junior officer with a degree in agriculture should be assigned to his golf club to assist in growing turf grass. Of course I knew nothing whatsoever about turf grass. So I was assigned to supervise the kitchen, dining room, bar, and to plan parties. I knew just as much about that as I knew about turf grass!

I immediately tried to get back to the Army. No one would even discuss that with me. That was an example of the worst of the Army. I finally had to approach His Highness Himself. He looked at me like I was a total idiot - “Why are you talking to me, a four-star general, about such a trivial matter?” He had obviously forgotten about his earlier comments, but no one else had. So I was able to get out of the golf club after about 10 weeks.

My time in the golf club was a good if not a military experience. I got to know many of the Korean employees well; I really liked them. They are a little more disciplined than Americans, and they are generally harder workers.

North Korea is only a few miles north of the capital city of South Korea, and Red China is not that much farther. Vigilance is high in South Korea. While I was there, the ROK (Republic of Korea) Army took over security on the DMZ replacing our Second Infantry Division. I was happy with that. In 1972, our Army was pretty pathetic; the ROK Army was superb. I believe that they are, man-for-man, as good as any army in the world.

From the golf club, I went to a Maintenance Battalion as Battalion Adjutant. I handled all personnel matters and most of the administration in the battalion. We were at about 50% strength when I arrived. I worked 10 - 12 hours per day, 6 days a week. When I left, we were at about 125% strength. The stand-down in Vietnam did that. We got several troops directly from Vietnam. They were not happy about that and several caused problems.

My Battalion Commander was LTC Warren A. Hagyard. He was a hard charger - he wore the Screaming Eagle combat patch of the 101st Airborne. Airborne ordnance officers are rare. He was a good man and a good officer - far better that most of us understood. He was a screamer - half the officers and NCO’s were afraid of him. I soon discovered that if you did your job, didn’t try to B.S. him, and admitted your mistakes, there was nothing to fear.

The Army Goes Rolling Along 

Originally written by field artillery 

First Lieutenant [later Brigadier General] 

Edmund L. Gruber, while stationed in the

Philippines in 1908 as the "Caisson Song." 

It was transformed into a march by 

John Philip Sousa in 1917 and renamed

"The Field Artillery Song."

  In 1956 it was adopted as the official song 

of the Army and retitled,

"The Army Goes Rolling Along."

 http://www.music.army.mil/music/armysong/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Army_Goes_Rolling_Along 

The Army Goes Rolling Along

Verse:
March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free.
Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory.
We’re the Army and proud of our name!
We’re the Army and proudly proclaim:

Chorus:
First to fight for the right,
And to build the Nation’s might,
And The Army Goes Rolling Along.
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting till the battle’s won,
And the Army Goes Rolling Along.

Refrain:
Then it’s hi! hi! hey!
The Army’s on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong;
For where’er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.

Army Logo

“Lead me, follow me,
or get the hell out of my way.”
George S. Patton Jr.
Patton Principles

“One more dance along the
razor's edge finished.
Almost dead yesterday,
maybe dead tomorrow,
but alive, gloriously alive, today.”
Robert Jordan
Lord of Chaos

“Battles are won by

slaughter and maneuver.
The greater the general,
the more he contributes in maneuver,
the less he demands in slaughter.”
Winston Churchill

“It is fatal to enter a war
without the will to win it.”
Douglas MacArthur

“There were many, many times
thereafter that Don
regretted having enlisted -
but so has every man who ever
volunteered for military service.”
Robert A. Heinlein
Between Planets

Vintage Poster

(For a phone number to speak with Larry See, please send an email request by using the contact form you will find in the column to the right of each post. Larry would love hearing from you. Please include your email address or phone number.)

Vintage Recruiting Poster