Military Schools
In a military career you go to a lot of schools. It is part of the procession of training and advancement. It is a tradition. No matter what rank you are you have some sort of Basic training, whether it is the rough one of Drill sergeant yelling out you or the rough one at West Point being yelled at by Cadet advisors.
Summer Camp - My Basic Training, if you will, was at Ft Lewis, Wa in the summer of 1973. In ROTC to give over your summer between the Junior and Senior year in college to this training. You are paid as an E-2 and you are instructed in the military arts as a private in the Army or Marines is and your rank is "cadet". I did pretty well for enthusiasm and creativity and ended up as the company commander of my cadet unit. This got me a high rating when I got back to the Corp at USF for my senior year.
Airborne School - I attended the 3 week US Army Parachute School after my ROTC summer camp in 1973. This meant I was in Ft Benning, Ga in late summer during the hottest time of the year. The course is a grueling physical trial that trains and prepares you for the last week where you have to survive 5 jumps from C-130's and C-141's, one a day. I was never a big running guy and though I did some running at home to prepare for this training and I was coming from the active summer camp, the heat and the pace almost killed me. After all the sweat and tears the five jumps were a snap and I earned my wings. By the way my first jump I was scared as crap. It was out of a noisy C-130 and I was first out the door, being the ranking man in my "stick", a cadet. That meant I had to "stand in the door" about 10 minutes while they circled around and around for whatever reason, it did not help, luckily I didn't get sick. I was saved from that when on my later jumps a Major who wanted to get his wings joined my stick and was first each time.
Armor Officer Basic - I went to AOB at Ft Knox, Ky almost immediately after graduating USF in 1974. The Officer basic is more study and books and very little drill. They figured you get all of that at your ROTC or academy assignment. I learned more about tanks than I thought existed! Kentucky became my military home base since it is the home of armor. I spent a lot of time with my art, computers and going to SF conventions and making friends. I bought a the Honda 250 as soon as a got there and got a 750 before my first assignment.
Ranger School - How you do in AOB determines the assignment you get. Do well and go overseas, such a reward! When my AOB ended and I was assigned to 1/68 Armor in Baumholder, Germany, I am sure that short-handed unit could hardly wait to get me on-board. Viet Nam was rolling down and the units in Germany were finally getting some priority as the "Cold War" was finally getting the resources vs. Viet Nam. They had to wait because my father was a green beret and I had something to prove. i had already finished the infamous Airborne School, I volunteered for the even harder Ranger School. Leaving the warm confines of KY in the fall I entered GA in the late fall of 1974 with tales following that Winter Ranger School was the worse thing that could happen to you. There was a 2 week wait for me in the start of the school and the staff literally tried to scare my California ass from staying!!! This course is a small unit course in leadership. Through the use of "patrolling" techniques, they teach small unit tactics and how to lead men in desperate situations with out food, water and in our case, freezing weather. I was barely up to the physical trials, especially after the soft environs of AOB. The only thing that got me through is that I was a great leader (hell I had had 4 years of leadership training in ROTC) where you had to successfully pass 3 patrols to graduate. I was flunked on one patrol by a disgruntled Captain who had been "riffed" (this means he was reduced in rank from Captain to Sergeant, this happened a lot to Viet Nam era officers, the pay difference really hurt) Though there was no rank in this course, he knew I was a Lieutenant and made me pay. That was okay I ace my other patrols and got my orange tab. This was in the wake of two rangers dying in my course, 1/3 dropout rate with a number of rangers trying the course over and over again. I will say that going to that course sets a standard and folks get out of the way of an Airborne/ranger in the army.
AOAC/Motor Officer Course - Once you have your first 3-year assignment in the military as an officer you usually get your advanced training (by the way the next school is War College, which I never attended). I attended Armor Officer Advanced Course in late 1976 at Ft Knox, Ky after returning from Germany. It was very similar to AOB except there was more extensive study. This was balanced by the new policy of "testing-out" it reflects the program they wanted us to implement in the units, you should not have to train a person in something they already know. If you have been to a unit already some of the training was very redundant. You test out. That was great for me. more time for computers, conventions artwork. I also met officers from all over the world. Our class had an Iranian prince, Israeli officers, Jordanian Armor officers and from various South American countries it was a trip. I graduated and was immediately sent to Motor Officer School there at Ft Knox. Since Ft Knox is the home of armor it is the home of mobility (combat as opposed to truck which is run out of the Transportation School in Indianapolis), this school is designed to train you as a Motor Officer who is kind of like the "Scotty" of a mobile infantry or tank unit. Since I had some inclination in this realm, (I rode a motorcycle and had to keep it up myself) I took to it and strangely enough my next assignment was Motor Officer of 4/37th Armor there in Ft Knox, KY.
Battalion Unified Training System - My last school in the military had a lasting effect on me. In the mid 70's the US Army began to change the way it trained people. No more Drill Sergeants yelling at you. The object was to find out what skills a person needed to do the job, break that down, emphasize what the person knew and give him hands on experience with what he did not. I was sent to learn the system in Ft Eustis, Va at an Army school in the early 80's. This was just before Mary and I got married and she must have called me everyday. The system Is started by developing a 5-year training program based on the units' mission. Breaking down the skills and then training them. In my last assignment at RGLA I was help to training the reserves in the Southwest The BATS or BUTS system as it was alternately called actually combined elements of Asian Quality Circle business ideas and modern US business ideas. This course though I hope it help the units I taught it to, prepared me more for ideas in the civilian world as I entered it.