Good morning, DrW.DrW wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 1:58 amHey Morely,
Why am I not surprised? (That bit of personal information explains a lot about the quality of your contributions to the board - at least to me.)
Below is the text of a message from a colleague who retired from the Army as a LtCol. He and I were friends at our first meeting, having both had our service lives revolve around M48 series main battle tanks (Yes - we are both Old Corps.).
We have been in the trenches of business together for more than a decade. Referring to my comments about the important role of senior NCOs in watching out for and training new second lieutenants in ground force operations, he wrote back:
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Hi DrW,
You are absolutely correct. I still remember my first Platoon Sergeant, Sergeant Speakman, who was old Army and had been running the Platoon without an officer for over 6 months.
I was a brand new 2nd Lt, in Armor, but assigned to a straight-leg infantry battalion, because Vietnam caused a shortage of Infantry Lieutenants.
So, I report to the Platoon and I can read SGT Speakman's mind. --"Not only do they send me a brand new Shavetail but one who's not even Infantry".
So he calls me aside and says. "Look Lieutenant, this is your platoon now and I'll listen to what you say, but if you listen to me I'll make you the best Platoon leader in this battalion. I won't correct you or embarrass you in front of the men but I will be behind you every step of the way, either way. It's your call Lieutenant."
Well, I took his advice and when I left Korea, we did have the best Platoon in the Battalion and won the division competition. In fact, I became the Battalion Commander's favorite Platoon Leader. But it wasn't my doing, it was that Old Army Platoon Sergeant, who after about four months, told me. "Ok, L.T. you're ready now."
That was over 50 years ago and I still have his picture. Great Observation DrW, and so true. Thanks for reminding me, it brought back some great memories.
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That story well captures the contribution of senior NCOs. A retired Army one-star general in our group related a similar young officer-senior NCO interaction story to us a few years ago.
So, a well-earned salute to you, Morley. The step up in responsibility and force impact from E5 to E6 is a significant one.
As we who follow the Ukraine conflict know, one of the main reasons that the Russians are getting their posteriors handed to them in the field, and losing so many senior commissioned officers (14 general rank officers last I counted), is that their NCO Corps has been hollowed out over time due to low pay, poor training, and non-retention, resulting from rampant corruption.
They have little or no effective small unit leadership. They are becoming an organization of generals and colonels leading a force of poorly trained and equipped conscripts. I predict here and now that the lack of effective NCO leadership, coupled with deteriorating logistics support, will cost the Russians their advances in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, and eventually Crimea.
Thank you for the kind words. I'm not sure that I deserve them.
I was little more than a week out of high school when I shipped to Basic Training. I went to Basic, AIT, Jump School, NCO School (we called it "shake-and-bake" because it created instant sergeants), Ranger School, then to a LRRP unit in Vietnam.
My service as an NCO was a little different from what you describe. I ran four-man teams (sometimes with Montagnard scouts) on intelligence gathering, sniper, and ambush missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam and into Loas. I won't say more than that.
I was not much more than a child at the time. I was out of the Army by the time I was in my early twenties.
In some very significant ways, I've both paid for my service and have benefited from it in the years since. That said, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Or for a mission.
...
In answer to MG's question as to how my time in the Army impacted my decision to not go on a mission.
1. My military service devoured my youth, impacted my health, and (happily) deflowered my innocence.
2. My brothers-in-arms were the Church's cursed descendants of Cain. I learned how repugnant that doctrine was.
3. I'd been exposed to the Problem of Evil.
After my discharge, I came home, married in the temple, worked a union job, had kids, and went to college. The seeds that had been planted in the Army grew into the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I cried and researched and prayed and prayed and prayed. And left the Church.