MONROE, NC

They sent us to Monroe during Dark Cloud Pine Cone II.  (Who names these things, anyway?)  I don't remember how long we were at Monroe but it was at least a few days.  We had government meal tickets and we ate all of our meals at a local home cooking type restaurant in town.  We got to know some of the regulars and talked to them every day.  They wanted to know what was going on, of course.  Maybe they were thinking that the Russians were coming.  (It was half expected at that time.)  One couple found out that we didn't have anywhere to clean up except a sort of half bath at the airport and offered to take us to their house and let us take a shower.  We quickly took them up on it.  Nice folks.  People always seemed to treat us really well back then.

We only had army aircraft one afternoon and they left the next morning.  We had quite a few fixed wing and choppers come in that afternoon.  They had a sort of ground control set up to land them and get them off the next morning.  It seemed to work very well.

We just had to be there all the time except for meals.  After lunch one day one of the guys suggested that we go to a local hobby shop across the street from the restaurant and look around.  We did and a couple of us bought a U-Control model, glue, paint, and an engine.  Everything needed to fly the model.  We had a good workbench in our van that was not being used at the time and built the planes.  I was out flying one afternoon and the Manager came out and asked if he could fly it.  I said, sure, if I can fly yours.  He said that he would take me up the next day.

Piper J-3

The next afternoon he came back from a crop dusting job in his J-3 Piper Cub and came up to the van and asked if I was ready to go.  I said, Yes, and followed him to the crop duster.  The other guys were all standing around and watching us.  I should have know what to expect from the manager since he was a former fighter pilot anyway.

The J-3 is a two place front and rear plane and had been converted for crop dusting.  It had DDT or some chemical powder all over the inside and looked like it had a hard life already.  I would go up with anybody in anything, ... back then, anyway.

We taxied out and took off on the taxi strip instead of the runway.  Yep, this was going to be interesting.  That side of the airport was on a high fill bank and we were over the gully when he kicked it into a steep turn at just about runway level.  He straightened it out and flew in the gully with trees between us and the airport and got his speed up and then pulled up  into a steep climb.  He said that he would give the guys a little show.  Maybe I should have asked then to not put on much of a show but I didn't.  That was my last chance to say much because after he had gained altitude, he put us in a steep dive with the engine screaming and the chemicals coming up off of the floor.  Hey, fun is just starting...... He pulled out of the dive in the gully and screamed that back at the airport it looked like we were in the trees.  Yeah, we almost were.  He gained altitude again and pulled up into a hammerhead stall and kicked it into a spin back down into the gully again and pulled out just above the ground.  No, I didn't scream or tell God that if he would let me live I would never get in another plane but I thought about it!  He flew in the gully below the trees and then hopped over the bank and back onto the taxiway for a landing right beside our guys.

I was very proud of myself.  I could climb out of the plane and even walk somewhat normally and even talked without screaming.  One of the guys asked me if I was scared?  I don't remember exactly what I told him but I didn't admit to it or deny it either. 

  No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!
Ronald Reagan 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/ronald_reagan.html#GAjOr50AwFve5EQ1.99

DARK CLOUD PINE CONE II

It seemed that the army rented all of North Carolina for the "Dark Cloud Pine Cone II" maneuvers.  Our company had teams out all over the state.  We spent some time at Bragg, NC, Camp Mackall, NC, and Monroe, NC during the maneuvers.  As well as I can remember, The maneuvers lasted a couple of weeks and we were neutral between the two armies that were fighting (?).  The 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne were having war games.  We had umpire flags on our vehicles and we would drive down a dirt road on the back of post and they would stop shooting while we passed.  They were polite to say the least.

We were camped out at an emergency air strip somewhere on the back end of Fort Bragg in the boonies of Camp Mackall.  (Emergency airstrip means a fairly straight section of a dirt road with a few trees cleared out on both sides.)  We had our power unit running, lights on in the van, and we were running our air compressor to pump up our air mattresses for the nights sleep.  Sgt Classcock had brought his TV along and it was on fairly loud.  Well, it was hard to hear over the air compressor. 

One guy stuck his head in the van door and said that there were guys crawling around out in the woods near us.  We went out to see and the airborne guys were all over the woods with sticks and branches on their helmets and charcoal on their faces.  A 2nd Lieutenant stormed up and someone called "ATTENTION".   The LT barked "Who is in charge here?  Sgt. Classcock saluted and said that he was, sir.  The Lt chewed him out and explained that this was suppose to be a war zone, blah, blah, and demanded to see our orders.  The Sarge showed him our orders and the LT said, "Carry On" , can you turn down the TV?  Sarge said that he would and the LT left.    I never understood why, but our orders directly from 3rd Army seemed to impress folks whenever we went anywhere TDY.

Later, we went to Monroe, NC to a small private strip that had a grass runway.  The strip was used as a base for crop dusters and had a few private planes.  The airport manager/ crop duster pilot was a nice guy.  He had been a P-38 fighter pilot during the War.  WW II, that is.  We were there a few days and he kept us entertained with tales of his war stories when he wasn't busy .

He stuck his head in the van one afternoon and told me that he had to go to Asheville, NC that evening and asked me to turn on the runway lights for him when he came back.  He showed me the switch for the lights and I asked him how I would know when to turn the lights on.  He said that we would hear him and I said we may be asleep and he said not to worry, we would hear him come back.

A few of us were sleeping between the bows on the top of of the deuce and a half.  (The top will support 3 guys but not 4.  Don't ask how I know.)  I was sacked out good when there was this loud racket and I opened my eyes and saw this bright light that seemed like the sun coming right at us.  We jumped down before it dawned on me that it was the manager coming back.  He flew very low right over us, I turned the lights on for him, and he landed okay and thanked me.  He said, "I told you that you would know when I was back".  

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Ronald Reagan 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/ronald_reagan.html#SbHwVoGOYKcVGDRx.99

FORT BRAGG 6

De Havilland Otter

I understand that they took all the fixed wing aircraft away from the army and left them only with helicopters.  The Army had quite a few different fixed wing aircraft in the 50's.  I was fortunate that I wanted to catch hops to Atlanta and back since the Third Army HQ was at Fort Mac in Atlanta and there was quite a bit of traffic between Rucker, Bragg, and the Third Army Flight detachment at the Fulton County airport in Atlanta.  

While working at Bragg I was able to catch a flight home every few weeks.  I went to Simmons Field Operations one Friday to check on a possible hop home that evening.  They said that they had an Otter that was scheduled to leave that evening that had space available for me.  I logged in for the flight.

De Havilland  Beaver

The Otter and Beaver were Canadian bush planes that could take off from a short field.  Both had a big radial engine and a decent speed.  I dressed in class "A" uniform and went to operations to wait on the flight.  I noticed that there were quite a few officers that came in to Operations.  They seemed to know each other and were all talking and I was just a lowly E-5 Specialist Enlisted man off to myself.  They called the flight and I followed them out and sat in the back of the plane.  As I remember, the Otter would carry 11 including a cockpit crew of two. 

I don't remember how many officers were on board but there were a few empty seats.  I noticed them talking and looking back at me but I didn't know what they were talking about.  We arrived at Fulton County and I was walking to operations to call my father to come get me.  I noticed that there were two army staff cars sitting outside the front door with two drivers standing by.  I assumed that they both were for the officers but as I walked up to the operations door one driver asked if I was Buffington.  I said, yes and he said for me to get in the car.  I looked at the other car in front and all the officers were crowding into that car and sitting in each others lap.

I asked the driver if the car was for me and he said, "Yes", and opened the back door for me.  The officers were all piled into only one car and I had the other car all to myself.  All the way into post they were in front of us and we could see the brass all crowded up and I could spread out all over the back seat.  "No Fraternization" was sort of stupid and the driver and I did enjoy the sight.

We were talking as we rode into town and I told him that our apartment was only a block south of post and he said that he would just drop me by home.  We decided that the brass didn't know what I was doing on their plane and they didn't ask me.  They probably radioed for enough cars but only two were available then and they must have thought that I had an "official" need to be there.

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
Ayn Rand 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/ayn_rand.html#RLPwKj1AXx61MkOy.99

FORT BRAGG 5

This is part of Simmons Field at Fort Bragg, NC.  In the picture at the left you can see the "Balloon Hanger", an L-19 airplane, and two H-21 helicopters.  Legend had it that an airborne pilot once flew an L-19 through the balloon hanger without crashing.  I can't verify that because that was before my time there.  I have been in that hanger and that would be a tight fit.  The balloon hanger was used to house blimps (Like the Goodyear Blimp) that they used during WWII to patrol the coast and spot German submarines.

I caught a hop home one weekend and was to return on a Sunday afternoon.  An L-19 flight that originated at Fort Rucker and was returning to Fort Bragg was to stop and pick me up.  I was there well ahead of time and was waiting on him.  I saw him landing and I said goodbye to Nancy and my Father and ran out to meet him.  He barely had to stop for me.

He said that he was running late and I had cost him more time to stop and get me.  I apologized but he was not happy.  We were somewhere over South Carolina and he told me that he was supposed to stop for refueling at Fort Jackson but he thought that he had enough fuel to make it without stopping.  He said that he was going to drain one tank and switch to the other one instead of drawing from both.

Later, the engine coughed and he switched the valve to the other tank.....  It died.  It sure did get quiet all of a sudden.  He put the plane into a shallow glide while he tried to restart the engine.  I looked out the windows and all I saw was trees with no place to land.  He continued to grind on the starter with no luck.  He said that we may have to jump if we got down too low.  I don't remember how low it would be unsafe to jump. I know it seemed much longer than it actually was but it seemed like we glided for quite a while.

We had an emergency parachute on.  The emergency chute is a little bigger than a loaf of bread and is designed to slow you down enough to only break your legs.  Anyway, the plane crashed and we were both killed.  Okay...., I lied.  The engine finally started and we flew the rest of the way to Bragg with no problems.

We had a long weekend while we were at Bragg and one guy in our team at Bragg went over to Pope Field to see what flight they had going somewhere.  Pope is an Air force base next to Bragg and it's main purpose is to take the airborne guys up and let them jump out.  He caught a flight to California for the weekend and found some Reservists there getting ready to fly to Hawaii for the weekend.  Yep, he went on to Hawaii and came back with them and then caught a flight back on time.

My record of catching flights was insignificant compared to his.

The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.
Samuel Adams 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/samuel_adams.html#VL6K1M9fip6uF8Y4.99

FORT BRAGG 4

Kaiser

While we were working on rewiring the H-21's at Bragg, the army was testing a couple of Cessna side by side jet planes.  I don't know what the army wanted them for but they were around Simmons Field for a couple of weeks.  We had a guy in our team I will call "Jones" (Not his real name)..  Jones saw them park the "Jet Fuel" tanker near our truck one afternoon to leave it overnight.  He mentioned a couple of times about how great his Kaiser car would run on "Jet Fuel".  I thought that he was kidding.  He wasn't.  Sometime that afternoon, before we left to go back to the barracks, Jones swiped some "Jet Fuel" and put it in his Kaiser car.  Jones had someone else riding with him and they left first.  I was riding back in another car and Jones car made it a few hundred yards before stalling.  We stopped to see what his problem was and he told us that he had just added some "Jet Fuel" to his tank and it should be running great.  Well, "Jet Fuel" is basically kerosene but he didn't know that.  Again, ignorance is dangerous.  They took the rest of us back to the barracks and someone drove back to help Jones.  He had to drain the tank and the carburetor, buy more gas, and was not back until late that evening.

H-13

There was a lot going on at Bragg.  They were just starting to experiment on arming H-13 choppers with two 30 cal machine guns mounted to the skids.  They aimed roughly and watched the tracers to put the rounds on the target.
They had the first "Flying crane" chopper there for testing.  The crane had two pilots.  One facing forward as normal and another facing backward to operate the crane part.  The thing could lift a large tank or a "Pod" full of soldiers or equipment and drop it off quickly and go back for more.  From the looks of it they are still the same basic configuration now.

They had the army "Square dance" team there practicing. I guess it was the army equivalent of the Blue Angles. Well, sort of.  They had orange and white H-13 choppers with stripped rotors so that it looked like pinwheels spinning as they were flying.  No, it wasn't for looks.  It was so they could see each others rotor during their maneuvers.  They would do-se-do and spin around and do something like square dancing.  They must not have kept it long because I can't find anything on YouTube about it but I did find the link below.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/do-si-do-in-the-sky-the-u-s-army-helicopter-square-dance-team

I owned the world that hour as I rode over it. free of the earth, free of the mountains, free of the clouds, but how inseparably I was bound to them.
Charles Lindbergh 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/charles_lindbergh.html#GZVWRFbffjpLgM6W.99

FORT BRAGG 3

We were at Bragg a few times and actually got to do some level 3 maintenance.  That was mainly swapping boxes and antennas.  a few of us were looking at the inside of an H-19 or H-34, I don't remember which.  One of the guys was climbing up the inside stairs from the cabin to the cockpit and he spotted a relief tube.  That was a flexible rubber or plastic tube with a funnel like thing on the end and mounted below the pilots seats.  Yes, that's exactly what it is for. That's why they call it a relief tube.   Anyway, the guy pulled it over to his face and was talking into the funnel like thing and saying things like testing, testing, etc.  He said that with all the electronic intercom stuff he wondered why they had to use a rubber hose to talk....... We were all laughing so hard that it took a few seconds to tell him what it was used for.  He climbed out and spit for 10 minutes.  Ignorance is dangerous. 

I was fortunate that while I was at Bragg I was able to fly home for the weekend a few times.  I would go to operations on Friday and see what, if anything, was going from there to Atlanta and what may be coming back on Sunday.  They had an L-19 (Bird dog) going Friday evening and returning on Sunday night.  The Birddog was a hopped up two place Cessna observation plane.  I have seen them put full flaps and lock the brakes, and rev the engine to red line and just about jump off of the runway hanging on the prop.

 You could fly, space available, on any military aircraft at that time if you were in class A uniform (Dress Uniform) .  Some of our guys in the radar platoon were helping them install G.C.A. (Ground Control Approach) radar at Simmons Field.  They were telling us that it was not going well and was not reliable. 

L-19 Birddog

I caught my flight with no problem and my Father picked me up at the Fulton County Airport 3rd Army flight detachment that night and brought me back on Sunday.  All went well until we had some fog and the pilot said that we may have to land at Fort Jackson.  He was on the radio and said , no problem because they had the G.C.A. up at Simmons now.  I didn't say what the radar guys had been telling us.  It was socked in pretty good and you couldn't see the lights on the ground.  I knew what the instruments did and was keeping track of what was happening.  We passed the marker beacons at the proper time and altitude but I didn't trust it.  The pilot pointed the nose down and followed the needle on the I.L.S. (Instrument Landing System).  The G.C.A. operator was telling him "your azimuth is good, your altitude is fine, stay on glide slope, blah, blah.  You couldn't see anything.  I was sort of, .....tense!  The operator calmly said "4 seconds till touchdown.  Take over manually".  I still didn't see anything but then we broke out of the fog and it was clear as a bell near the ground and we were over the end of the runway and landed with no problem.

We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.
Christian Nestell Bovee 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_fear.html#YCEU4Vrc2mIH8ly2.99

FORT BRAGG 2

We had been working on the conversion for a couple of days when the warrant officer in charge came by the shop van one afternoon and asked us if we would like to take a training hop with them that night up to Raleigh Durham airport and back.  I said sure and Sgt Glasscock said that he thought that we all would like to go.  We were suppose to get chow and be back by 7 pm. Err, that's 19:00 hours in army time.  We all were back on time and waiting to board the chopper.

There was only one set of headphones in the back cabin and the engine was in the rear with two drive shafts and universal joints in the top of the cabin.  When it was running you could not hear the guy next to you scream at you.  Our Sgt had the headphones on and passed word to buckle up because we were ready to take off.  They revved up the engines and engaged the rotors and you could not hear yourself think.

Even though a chopper can take off vertically, they usually followed the same procedure as the fixed wing airplanes by rolling down the taxiway and using the runway to take off.  The pilot told our Sgt. on the intercom to tell everyone to stay buckled because they were going to give us a thrill by doing an auto-rotation.  (An auto-rotation is when there is an engine failure the pilot can keep the rotors spinning like a windmill by reversing the pitch of the rotors and while you drop like a rock and pulling positive pitch just before you become a greasy spot on the ground and, if done right, settle lightly to the ground. 

The Sgt passed down a motion of patting the belt and hooking his hands together and screaming to keep the belt on.  Klumb was on the end seat across from the door and he thought that it meant that it was okay to take off his belt.  As we were lifting off the sun was going down and Klumb wanted to take a picture of it from the air.  He unbuckled his seat belt and stood up by the door.  The door had a large Plexiglas panel in it and was designed to be easy to kick out in case of emergency.
 (Notice the Plexiglas panel in the door in the picture below.)

We were a few hundred feet in the air when the bottom dropped out.  Klumb was about half floating  in air and half dancing like a ballerina as we dropped.  We were afraid that 
Klumb  would hit the Plexiglas panel and go right through.  Luckily someone was able to grab him and pull him to a seat as we touched down and headed to Raleigh Durham.  Klumb kept his belt fastened all the way after that.  I don't know if he ever got that picture.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mark_twain.html#v4SLCFFTECl7rKUf.99

FORT BRAGG, NC

As I have said before, we didn't do much useful work when we were at Fort Mac and most of the time when we went somewhere we would go to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  We loaded up our shop van, power unit, and deuce and a half (2 1/2 ton) truck and headed out on our first TDY (temporary duty) trip to Ft Bragg to help convert H-21 Helicopters from VHF to UHF com radio systems.

H-21 Helicopter

We were working for a Warrant Officer (H-21 pilot) and with the chopper's manufacturer, Vertol, and with their tech reps on the installation.  I was working in the shop van with Chuck Hannen most of the time building junction boxes and wiring up cannon plugs to make the cables that would connect the equipment by using the wiring harnesses supplied by Vertol.  (Chuck later was my best man at our wedding.)  We had a few other guys with a couple in the ship running cables to the radio rack and a couple of others staging the components in the truck.  I thought that we were working well and making good time but the army thought that we were behind schedule.  Obviously, the army's solution was to send our other avionics team up from Ft Mac to help.

Inside view of H-21.

The radio rack is on the left side just behind the pilots position.  As you can see in the picture at the left, there ain't much room.  One guy barely fits in the aisle and one other helping push the cables and lash them down are a crowd by themselves.  Of course, some brass hat behind a desk at 3rd Army HQ thought, One team, one month.  Two teams, half of a month.  The other guys came up and we got in each others way and we got farther behind.  (Also notice the luxurious seating in the chopper.  It doesn't recline but it will fold up to make room for cargo.)

It became obvious that that was not going to work.  Our team chief, Sgt Glasscock (Yes, that really was his name.), and the Warrant Officer in charge of us decided that we would work in shifts.  That is team "1" Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Team "2" on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  It worked great and we all had a 4 day weekend.  Everyone was happy and we finished in a reasonable amount of time.

“ There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation.

One is by the sword, the other is by debt”

John Adams

FORT MAC 2

While I was stationed at Fort Mac, Nancy and I were married and Debbie and Donna were born.  They were 7 month preemies and we lost Donna.  Debbie spent her first 2 months in an Isolette in the hospital.  It had the temperature and humidity controlled.  We were waiting on her to weigh 5 pounds so we could bring her home.  

Dining out.

We played soldier once a year when we would go to Fort McClellan, Alabama for an army tactical training test.  We had to qualify with our weapons.  We had M1 carbines issued to us and this was the only time that we were able to shoot them although we did have the privilege of marching with them on a regular basis.

We didn't march with the bazooka.

We dined on "C" rations and also had some hot food.  The c rations had cigarettes in them and they were obviously left over from WWII since some had "Luckies go to war" on them and a green wrapper.  If you lit one of the cigarettes it would burn like a dynamite fuse.  As Sherman said, "War is Hell". 

Our cleverly camouflaged machine gun nest.

 I thought that I was about to get into trouble because some guy burned his tent up with this homemade stove he had inside it.  Well, it was cold in the foxholes that we dug and I showed some guys how to make a stove out of a tin can, dirt, and gasoline to heat a little coffee or to have some heat in the foxhole.  The gas tanks on the trucks had a little drain so it was easy to get some gas.  Soon, the foxholes were glowing at night and then the guy burned the tent.  Busted!  They called a formation and said for the ones with stoves to dump them in a trash can and they filled the can.  The CO was not happy and they were afraid that they would not have enough gas to get back to where they had to refuel one of the trucks.

A promise must never be broken.
Alexander Hamilton 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alexander_hamilton.html#43AAAfGikruEUvwF.99

EVEN MORE ARMY STUFF- FORT MAC

Army Deuce and a Half

The 589th had radar, radio, wire, and avionics teams and we all had vehicles in the motor pool.  As I said earlier, when we were at Ft Mac we did very little that was useful.  We had classes, marched, and did PM on our vehicles and test equipment.  We were in the motor pool doing PM on a very cold and windy morning.  I was in our shop van and was fairly comfortable and some of the guys were in the back of their trucks to get out of the weather.  We had a power unit in each team and some were running the unit for maintenance.

     

Shop Van

  The power units were basically a jeep engine connected to an alternator to make 110/220 volts for electrical power.  It was warm in the power unit trailer and ,one by one, guys got in and sat along the side of the engine to warm up.  The problem was that nobody had put down the support leg in the back.  All was well as long as the weight was all in the front.

PE-95 Power Unit

Somebody stuck their head inside the canvas flap of the trailer and said that the CO was coming!  Everyone headed to the back at the same time to get out and look busy when the trailer tipped back, dumped them all out in a pile, and dropped back down with a thud.  The CO was standing right there over them and knew just what had happened.  One guy, while lying flat on his back on the pavement, saluted and said "Good Morning Sir".  The CO said "carry on" and turned to the first sergeant, smiled, and said that we needed some safety classes.  The first sergeant got everybody back to "work".  As far as I know that was all that happened about it.

A few of us were standing around before a formation one day and a guy came up to talk to one of our sergeants.  He said that he had orders to go to Greenland and he had heard that the sarge had served there and asked him how the duty was.  The sarge told him "You're going to love it.  There are women behind every tree".  The guy smiled, turned, and walked away and the sarge quietly said "There aren't any trees". 

Not Us.  Just shows the Gideon.

As I have already said, we did a lot of retirement parades for the brass.  Fort McPherson was 3rd Army headquarters and there were always plenty of Colonels and Generals retiring.  I was chosen as the Gideon Bearer for the company.  That is that little flag on a pole with a spear point on the end that has the name of the company on it in case we forget our name while we are marching around.  I did get to march right at the front.  Well, you are marching in the right front of the company and the CO is suppose to be one pace to the left and three paces ahead.  

Ukrainian army.  Uh, not our outfit but I decided to leave it in.

One day we had a parade for some brass and as you go by the reviewing stand the CO gives the "Eyes right" command and the CO salutes for the company.  I raised the flag up on the "eyes" and dropped it straight out front on the "right" command like I was supposed to do.  I felt a couple of good bumps on the Gideon and looked out of the corner of my eye to see the CO was getting jabbed in the rump by the sharp point of my flagpole.  Oh well, I guess I'll never make E-5.

The CO was a good guy and knew it was his fault and he was in the wrong place.  I still made E-5 in less than 2 years in the army with a waver for time in grade.  My buddy, Weyman, spent 4 years in the navy and came out as an E-3. 

  (All pictures from the internet.)

The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do.
Joseph Stalin  
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_stalin.html#Y7VGgDks8IkAe2kI.99

THE ARMY YEARS 10

If you think that all this army stuff is getting old, better leave now.  I hate to run off my many reader but there is a lot more army stuff to come.  When I started this Tome, I didn't realize how much stuff there was to tell.  Especially if you add in the made up stuff to the reality.  This will not be a chronologically arranged as I need to skip around from time to time.  Uh, like now....

Back to Basic Training time for a moment.  We had a guy who was from WEST, BY GOD, VIRGINIA.  That's the way he would always say it.  Anyway, he was called to the orderly room because he got an emergency phone call from home. ( We weren't allowed to have phone calls.)  That usually meant that a family member was sick, injured, or had just died and that was just what had happened.  His dog had died.  He asked to see the CO and requested a leave to go home because his dog had died and he was refused the leave.  (I guess the CO didn't like dogs.)  The next morning he was gone and we didn't see him anymore.  He had gone AWOL.  (Absent without leave.)

From Google.  Troops on the Rifle Range.

That reminds me of this other guy we had.  He wasn't in my barracks but we all heard the shot.  He was on the upstairs floor of the barracks and sat on his footlocker, put the muzzle if his M1 to his boot and purposely shot himself.  It was lucky that there wasn't anyone below him because the bullet went through the floor and into the downstairs floor.  We found out later that he had gotten a "Dear John" letter from his girl friend and thought that he could claim it was an accident and get to go home to patch things up with her.  Nope, he got to go to the hospital and then to the stockade (jail).  (I assume that destroying a GI boot was illegal.)  That was one thing that the army did well.  They had a tight control on the number of rounds issued and shot on the range so I don't know how he managed to steal a bullet.

CLICK HERE-Singing Jodies in the barracks. Not us. From Youtube.

Something else that may not be common knowledge are the "work songs" called "Jody Cadence".  They were originated during WWII by a black army sergeant to help troops stay in step and make the march easier.  Many of them were about a factious guy named Jody.  Jody was always back home, partying, driving your car, taking your job, and making time with your girl while you were slogging through the mud.  Some of that was sometimes true.  Many were R or X rated and were made up on the spot.  Some songs would fit perfectly like "Around her Neck she wore a yellow ribbon".  Also changing some words was sometimes done like "around her leg she wore a purple garter............"  I guess I'll stop there.

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.
Patrick Henry 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/patrick_henry.html#LJQpS75SQ2dSC32L.99

THE ARMY YEARS 9

Life in Instructor Company B clicked along well and I soon got another stripe and was promoted to Specialist E-4 early.  NO MORE KP with my new rank.  (KP means kitchen police.  That means a long day of dirty jobs in the kitchen.)  The specialist rank was considered the equivalent of Corporal.  Students came and went until our input of students were cut off.  I was lucky that they decided to start the Avionics Platoon at that time, that I was able to get in it, and that it would be in Atlanta. 

It was known that my course was closing down.  There was  some jealousy among the troops that I have already touched on and one guy came into the barracks before evening chow and smiling said, "Hey Buff, You've got orders in the orderly room".   Another said that my deal had to end sometime and laughed at my misfortune of being shipped out.  I knew what was coming and said that I would go get my orders and see what where I was going.

I brought my orders back and tossed them on my bunk and went on to the latrine (Army word for bathroom).  I saw guys going over to peek at my orders as I went into the john.  When I came back they were asking how I pulled it off being transferred to Atlanta and nobody believed that it was just plain luck. 

Most of our last graduating class from the 284 Course and I went to Fort McPherson, GA.  We were put into the 589th Signal Company that was attached directly to the Third Army HQ.  We were to be 2 avionics squads (Teams).  Each team was assigned a 2 1/2 ton truck, a power unit and trailer, and a shop van.  We didn't really have any work at Fort Mac except doing PM on our vehicles and test equipment.  Oh yes, march for the retirement of about one General every Saturday.

We would go TDY (Temporary Duty) to many posts in the Third Army area and work on aircraft radio and related things there. I went to Fort Rucker, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Camp McCall, Fort Jackson, Fort McClellan, and Fort Bragg at one time or another.  I almost forgot NCO Academy at Fort Benning, GA.  (Non Commissioned Officers Academy.)

I found that my E4 rank that got me out of KP at Gordon, didn't help at Ft Mac because they had civilian mess hall  employees and here was no KP.  I also found that E4 and above pulled CQ duty.  That was answering the phone and handling things in the orderly room during the night and weekends.  One of the important jobs the CQ did was to make the rounds of the company area and call the Post Fire Department at midnight and report that there were no fires in the company area.  I guess, if there were any fires that you should wait until midnight to report them.

The company was given a large room to be used as a day room that had been used for storage.  They got some wooden pallets from somewhere and we broke them down to be used as 4 foot high paneling. We nailed them to the wall and they looked pretty good after it was finished.

One guy whacked his thumb pretty bad and it was getting blue.  They sent him to the hospital for treatment.  He came back with his thumb bandaged and carrying a form for the CO to fill out and return to the hospital.  It had various entries to be made and one was "Action taken to prevent another occurrence of this accident."  The CO left that line blank and sent it back only to have the guy bring it back again.  The CO put something like it was just an accident and, sure enough, the guy brought it back again.  The CO said a few choice words and wrote that the company had been given a direct order to not hit themselves with a hammer.  Yep, That satisfied the folks at the hospital.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html#vCTQJ0oh2od3EFqX.99

THE ARMY YEARS 8

Me in my office at the Avionics course.

I have been over the schools and being chosen as an instructor.  Being close to home allowed Dave and I to go home most weekends.  I was asked a few times what kind of political influence I had to get stationed so close to home.  Just lucky.  Some guys wanted to go to Europe or Asia but I couldn't remember any reason for me to go anywhere.  After all, that was the reason for my planning and volunteering for instructor.

Some of the guys must have resented Dave and I going home many weekends.  I say that because we once got back about 2 am from a trip home and found both of our bunks stacked three high.  Not any problem, really, just climb up and go to bed.  We did have to remember the next morning not to just swing out of bed.  After chow we unstacked the bunks and were back to normal.

I had a flat tire on my 47 Ford as we were heading back one Sunday evening and I had it patched at a service station.  The attendant must have tightened the lug nuts with the weight of the car on them and left them a little loose.  We were driving back on Hwy 278 in Green County, GA and I noticed a grinding sound and felt it in the steering.  I slowed down and we were just inside the city limits of Greensboro, GA.  The left front of the car dropped down and there were sparks flying.

I managed to get it over on the shoulder of the road.  We got out and found that the left front wheel had came off and caught under the fender.  The lug bolts were cut off like they had been turned down on a lathe.  While we were standing there a police car came from the direction of town and he circled around and parked behind me with his red light on.  (Yes, they were red back then and not blue.)  

The officer looked the situation over and told me to get my hubcaps and spare tire off so they would not get stolen and he would get it towed in to the local Ford dealer the next morning and he gave us a ride into town.  He told us to try to hitch a ride to Gordon while he put my stuff up.  We had our thumbs up in the air as some cars with post stickers passed but no offers of a ride.  The officer locked my hubcaps and spare tire in the city hall and came back out to see how we were  making out getting a ride back to post.  He said not to worry that he could get us a ride.

Another car with a post sticker came by and he officer turned on his light and siren and stopped the guy.  The officer asked the guy if he knew what the speed limit was in town and the Guy nervously told him the correct speed.  The officer looked at him and he had his ticket book in his hand as he told him that he had a couple of guys who needed a ride back to Gordon and asked if he could take us.  The guy said "sure fellows, get in" and we were driven back to our barracks.

The cop did get the car towed in to the Ford dealer and fixed for me.  I thought that they would take advantage of a stranded soldier and I was expecting a big repair and towing bill and I had borrowed all the money that I could from my friends in the barracks.  I called the Ford dealer on Thursday to see if it was fixed and what the bill would be.  I was all ready to be cheated and when the dealer told me that they had towed the car, replaced the lug bolts, aligned the front end, fixed a slow leak in the spare, and road tested it.  It was ready. 

Shame on me for thinking the worse of folks!  I don't remember what the bill was but it was nothing compared to what it should have been.  Those good folks in Greensboro, Ga knew that I was a GI and took care of me instead of taking advantage of me.  When I picked the car up on Friday evening, I told them that I really appreciated their treatment.  I know that a few years later during Viet Nam Some members of the public were disrespectful of the military but I bet that was not true of the great folks in Greensboro.

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
John Adams 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_war.html#BHdbDKYK1CfpXzuy.99