I thought that my cousin DAVID HICKS' Top Ten list was such a good idea that I had to steal it.
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GPat's top howevermany list
I have been acting Delta company executive officer now for 3 weeks. My buddy, Rich, is the XO but he had been on leave on his honeymoon. I have been doing his (my) job since he has been gone. It has worn me down, but I haven't had that sort of job satisfaction for a long while. Kathy has been trying to be understanding but she doesn't like my long hours. A good note is that I have already received my first kudos from my boss and his boss for getting us out of a hole.
Kathy is very fine (if I do say so myself) and plugging away at work. She has just completed parent/teacher conferences, and has been coming home as tired as me. An idea we have been discussing is for me to do a tour in Korea, that would ensure that she gets a total of 3 years teaching on Ft Campbell. She seems accepting of that, although it would be 12 months apart. It looks like that could work out for the both of us, career wise. A company command in Korea, from what I understand is a great way to gather experience.
I will be temporarily deployed to Ft Polk, LA for 3 weeks. Another great opportunity for learning that I feel I deperately need. I will be an observer/controller for the 82nd Airborne division. It will be an opportunity to see how other leaders fight. I will be observing and commenting on the tactics they use, good and bad. I have spent pitifully little time as a platoon leader. This is the crucial job for a lieutenant. More than anything else, knowing how to fight a unit is my key learning objective. I only spent 5 months in a rifle platoon, and although I have spent 12 months as a heavy weapons PL, I think the time I spent out in the field with the soldiers was scant. It is nice to be able to coordinate resources, or organize big training events, but an officer has to be able to be (completely) competent leading young men into gunfire. It is one thing to have balls as big as churchbells, the men respect and look for that, but if your plan is their hasty demise; you better find another job.
Some interesting facts: My brigade is the 'Always First' Brigade. The brigade is regimental, meaning all three 327th Regimental battalions are together. The regiment's motto is 'Honor and Country'. I know that the brigade's motto is from the time it spent in Vietnam. We were the '1st' brigade from Ft Campbell deploy to Vietnam, and due to our ability to be AIR MOBILED by helicopter to anywhere in Vietnam in a short period of time, we took on the additional moniker of 'the Nomads of Vietnam'. I don't know from exactly what or whom Honor and Country derived, but I do know that it is from our key role in one of last battles of WWI.
The Museum on Ft Campbell is named for BG Pratt. General Pratt's claim to fame is that he was one of the first few casualties during the Normandy invasion. The 101st Airborne division of WWII was just that, Airborne. 2 regiments(?), the 502nd, and 501st (aka PIR's, or parachute infantry regiments) were made up of honest-to- goodness paratroopers who were on jump status. My regiment, the 327th, was made up of infantrymen who inserted via glider. Airplanes without engines. We were known as a GIR, or glider infantry regiment. Gen Pratt was inserting on a glider that had a malfunction, or actually went down from flak, and he happened to be in a 'special' compartment under the belly of the bird. The plane went down, and he was unable to be remove. He became makeshift landing gear. -You may have seen this in the movie "Saving Private Ryan.
31 OCT 1998