ASSIGNMENTS

I have often thought about the role that chance played ``in personal fortune. I’m very familiar with sayings such as, "Make your own luck,’ or "Good luck comes to those who prepare." I understand them and halfway believe them, but in the Army the timing of your active service, over which you have no control, plays a huge role. Why was the Class of 1915 called "the class the stars fell on?" They were just at the right point in their careers for both world wars, that’s why. Then, there were little breaks that you either got or didn’t get that could make a big difference.

Before I went to Viet Nam the first time I asked my assignment officer what sort of job I should try to get in Viet Nam. The answer was, "Don’t come home without a Combat Infantryman’s Badge". To get one of those you had to serve in an infantry unit as an infantryman and be in combat. As a young infantry captain I was almost assured of having that opportunity.

The chances were greatly increased when I got my orders. My orders assigned me a "prefix 7", which meant an airborne assignment. There were only two such assignments available, advisor to the Vietnamese Airborne Division or Special Forces, which had its own prefix. Only two officers from the advanced course at the Infantry School, me and the famous Pete Dawkins, had orders with prefix 7s. I knew that it wouldn’t be an automatic assignment, but I had several friends already advising the Vietnamese airborne and was confident I could get in.

I was to fly to Viet Nam from Travis Air Force Base. As I was about to board my plane I heard my name being called from a distance. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Pete Dawkins standing on the outside of the fence surrounding the airfield, calling him. I jogged over to Pete and said "hi." Pete said that he knew there was only one billet open in the Airborne division and that since I was obviously leaving now, and he not until the next day, that I would undoubtedly get the assignment.

"Wait a minute," I said. "How do you know that?"

"I called over and asked," Pete replied.

"So they know that you’re coming, and you think I’ll get the assignment?"

Dawkins was known to every officer in the Army as a superstar, Heisman trophy winner, Rhodes Scholar, probable future Chief of Staff.

At the Airborne Advisory Detachment I was told that they were holding the slot for Pete. I was assigned as an advisor to a training center. There was no chance in the world that I would get a CIB at a training center.

As "luck" would have it, there was still a war going on in Viet Nam a couple of years later and I got orders to return. This time my orders were to First Field Force, a Corps-level headquarters, as an operations staff officer. No chance for a CIB there.

When I arrived in Nha Trang I was temporarily assigned a room for a few days until a permanent one came available. No one told me where to get supper so I started asking. I couldn’t figure out the directions through dark streets in a war zone and no one was going that way to show me. Finally I ended up at the bar in the hotel where my temporary room was, eating beef jerky and drinking beer.

At the bar I found a classmate and an old friend who had just left the 173d Airborne Brigade, the only real airborne unit in the American forces in Viet Nam, and the successor to the 503rd from Okinawa. My friend, Strube, told me that there was a vacancy there for a major, since he had just left. I decided to visit the G-1 first thing the next morning and try to get assigned to the 173rd.

The next morning started off badly. Once again I couldn’t find anyplace to eat breakfast and no one else was interested in breakfast. I was starving. Then, when I went into the headquarters and told them I wanted to go see the G-1, my new boss told me that I was scheduled to attend the Commanding General’s briefing first thing and had better go. The briefing lasted nearly an hour. I couldn’t hear much of it over the rumbling of my stomach. Finally I was free to search out the G-1.

I went back to my new office to ask how to find the G-1 and the sergeant there told me to report to the G-1 immediately. Well, something was finally going right.

The G-1 was Colonel Hale, an imposing but amiable fellow. I decided to take the initiative. I didn’t know why Hale wanted to see me, but after I asked to be reassigned it probably wouldn’t be relevant anymore, anyway. I told Col Hale that I had an urgent request. Hale told me to wait a minute, he had something he wanted to discuss first.

"I see from your records that you have considerable airborne experience," Hale began.

"Yes sir, I do, and that’s what I want to talk about," I said, trying to wrest the initiative away.

"Well, I’ve got an urgent need to fill a major’s billet in the 173rd, and you’re the best candidate I’ve got. I hope you will accept this reassignment without...."

At this point I was standing up practically dancing. "How soon can I leave, sir?"

"That’s the other bad news, I’m afraid," Hale told me. "You have to leave today."

"Just tell me where and how, I’m ready," I said, smiling from ear to ear.

An hour later I was on an airplane to An Khe, the Brigade rear. I hadn’t eaten anything for over 24 hours. I no longer cared.