War Air Cavalry Style

By LTC USA Bert Chole

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) John B. Stockton and Staff Sergeant (SSG) Bert Chole reported to Fort Benning on two separate missions, unknown to each other, but whose destinies would ultimately lead to the former taking
the 1st Squadron 9th Air Cavalry to Vietnam and the later to bring the Squadron back from Vietnam. This is story about the 1st Squadron 9th (Air) Cavalry leading up to its deployment to Vietnam and the five years, nine months and nine days of service in Vietnam.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796062151

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Copyright © 2019 by Barbara Eileen Chole.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2019915018

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1     Harmony Church

Chapter 2     Harmony Church

Chapter 3     Training

Chapter 4     Air Assault Training

Chapter 5     Fort Campbell, Kentucky May 1965

Chapter 6     Getting Ready To Go

Chapter 7     An Khe And Start of The Pleiku Campaign

Chapter 8     Change Of Command

Chapter 9     Change Of Command

Chapter 10   Crew Chief Memories (Part One)

Chapter 12   Crew Chief Memories (Part Two)

Chapter 13   August-December 1966

Chapter 13   Change of Command

Chapter 14   January 1967 to 15 April 1967

Chapter 15   14 April to 20 December 1967

Chapter 16   Another Change of Command

Chapter 17   Tet Offensive 1968

Chapter 18   Relief of Khe Sahn

Chapter 19   Raid Into The A Shau Valley

Chapter 20   Operation Jeb Stuart III

Chapter 21   Change of Command

Chapter 22   Liberty Canyon

Chapter 23   Change of Command

Chapter 24   Change of Command

Chapter 25   Change of Command

Chapter 26   American Forces Invading Cambodia

Chapter 27   Change Of Command

Chapter 28   Training Echo Troop

Chapter 29   Leaving Vietnam

Afterword

Glossary of Terms

DEDICATION

S eptember 22, 2017 was a beautiful fall day in our Nation’s capitol. A procession formed up at Arlington National Cemetery. There was the flag draped coffin on the horse drawn caisson, the Honor Guard, an Army band, rifle platoon, Bugler and two Army Chaplains followed by about 100 family, friends, and comrades wearing Cav hats. LTC Bert Chole (Ret) was being laid to rest with full military honors. The only battle he ever lost was the one with Agent Orange, adding one more casualty of Vietnam to a long list. He loved the Army and its ceremonies; but most of all he loved the Cavalry, and as per his orders to me, his black Stetson Cav hat was cremated with him. He wasn’t quite done with this, his third book, but I have completed it for him to the best of my ability.

This book Is dedicated to him, but not him alone. It’s for all the men he served with, for all those who have served, and for the men and women now serving. For all of you……..may the Angels wing you home. For those who have had to fight for it, life has a meaning the protected can never know.

(Barbara) Eileen Chole

PREFACE

Fort Benning, Georgia

July 1963

L ieutenant Colonel (LTC) John B. Stockton and Staff Sergeant (SSG) Bert Chole reported to Fort Benning on two separate missions, unknown to each other, but whose destinies would ultimately lead to the former taking the 1 st Squadron 9 th Air Cavalry to Vietnam and the latter to bring the Squadron back from Vietnam. This is story about the 1 st Squadron 9 th (Air) Cavalry leading up to its deployment to Vietnam and the five years, nine months and nine days of service in Vietnam.

BEGINNING

Following the cease fire in Korea, Major General James Gavin (a World War II 82nd Airborne Division Commander) wrote an article for Harper’s Magazine in May 1954 titled, Cavalry… and I Don’t Mean Horses, during which he asked the question (while discussing the problems of fighting in Korea) Where was the Cavalry?… And I don’t mean horses. I mean helicopters and light aircraft, to lift soldiers armed with automatic weapons and hand-carried light anti-tank weapons, and also lightweight reconnaissance vehicles, mounting anti-tank weapons the equal or better than the Russian T-34s … If ever in the history of our armed forces there was a need for the cavalry arm—airlifted in light planes, helicopters and assault-type aircraft—this was it …

In 1961 the Army completed a study on Army Aviation (the Rogers board) and in April 1962 the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, directed the Army to reexamine their approach and develop a plan for implementing fresh and perhaps unorthodox concepts that would give a significant increase in mobility. Within a week, Lieutenant General Hamilton Howze was appointed to lead the Army Tactical Mobility Requirements Board (Howze Board). The board published their report 90 days later and rather than accepting the report as written, the Army leadership directed a series of tests to begin in 1963.

In February 1963 the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) was formed to test the concept of air mobility for the United States Army. LTC Stockton wrote, On a glorious summer day in 1963 came that cherished set of orders transferring me PCS (Permanent Change of Station) to the 11th Air Assault Division at Fort Benning.¹

To understand the effectiveness of the First Squadron, 9th (Air) Cavalry during the Vietnam War, one must look at the training they received before they deployed to Vietnam and the man who put the training program together and then supervised the implementation of that program. The Cavalry soldier who put this together was LTC John B. Stockton. A very brief outline of his background follows but certainly there was much more to this man than this outline covers.

General Shoemaker, who assumed command of the squadron after Stockton was relieved of command in 1966, and after the Vietnam War, went on to achieve great things in the Army; he served as Commander, 1st Cavalry Division and Commander, III Corps. In 1977, Shoemaker was assigned as Deputy Commander, U.S. Army Forces Command, and a year later was promoted to General and became commander of FORSCOM. He wrote about LTC Stockton in a letter to the editor in the Bullwhip Squadron News Letter, November 1999, discussing the man and the memoir contained in the book Stockton wrote, entitled, The Cavalry Trade.

"John B. Stockton was a central figure among the handful of officers who led the Army’s drive in the 1960s to exploit the potential of the helicopter in ground combat. His fertile brain conceived of ideas for employment, training and operational tactics at a galloping pace. He wrung out these ideas in field experimentation in the 11th Air Assault Division tests in 1963-65, first in the command of an assault helicopter battalion followed by command of the division’s air cavalry squadron. When the experimental Air Assault Division was made a part of the force structure and assigned the colors and lineage of the 1st Cavalry Division, Stockton’s air cavalry squadron became the 1st Squadron, Ninth Cavalry and deployed with the division to Vietnam in August, 1965. He set the standard and built the foundation for the famous First of the Ninth, which went on to become the most noted battalion sized unit of the Vietnam War. This fascinating account, really a collection of autobiographical vignettes and related essays, show clearly how his life’s experience fitted Stockton perfectly for his role as point man for the development of air cavalry. It was the ideal assignment of a hard driving and imaginative cavalryman to a mission which demanded innovation, drive and leadership of the highest order. His personality exemplified the traditional dash, elan and boldness of cavalry.

A few of the stories seem incredulous. The author states in his Preamble: The contents should not be read with a particular eye to accuracy and veracity. Like almost everybody of my advanced years, especially those who have led an active life as I have, I tend to exaggerate and embroider and to stretch the scenery a bit here and there in order to produce a more tellable tale. According to my lights, it’s a forgivable trespass. Yet the Stockton legend is so strong, and his verifiable actions so bold and unconventional that any of these stories could be 100% true.

Aside from its value as entertainment and history, the book has application as a leadership text. There is no denying Stockton’s success as a battlefield leader. Young officers of the combat arms, could study with profit his account of the training and battle techniques used to develop and employ his units. The stories show clearly why Stockton’s troops worshipped him. They show also why his bosses required great finesse to know when to give him slack and when to rein him in.

For anyone who knew John B. Stockton this memoir will bring back vivid memories of the genius who could well be called the father of air cavalry. There is a tragedy here. It is tragic that Stockton’s talent and creativity could not have been used by the Army for a full career in senior officer ranks. But it was not to be. We can only guess what would have been the result if this larger than life’ cavalryman could have fitted better in an institution that has a hard time assimilating ‘non-standard’ people, no matter how talented.

General Robert M. Shoemaker

USA Retired.

John B. Stockton was an Army brat born on a cavalry post at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on November 7, 1922 and was raised in the Cavalry. He traveled from post to post, until he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. He learned several things from the soldiers of F Troop 10th cavalry, commanded by his father, and the first was learned at seven years of age from the Mess Sergeant of F Troop who told him: You can always tell how good the cooking is by how much ketchup the men are putting over their food. Don’t forget that! and he didn’t.² And the second lesson he never forgot was: what goes around comes around, again taught by the Troopers of F Troop. While his father was commanding F Troop, young Stockton would hang around the soldiers in the mess hall, stables, the saddle shop and the arms room and was well liked by those soldiers. Ten years later while a West Point plebe he discovered that the horse cavalry detachment at West Point consisted of those very same soldiers from F Troop, with over half of them the same soldiers he grew up with while his Father commanded the troop. When he became a member of the West Point Polo Team, he was convinced that he always received the best horses and made the final eight of the polo team because those F Troop soldiers told everyone how good he was. Treat your soldiers right and they treat you right.

When the 18-year-old Stockton reported to West Point on 1 July 1940, Europe and the Far East were in turmoil with Germany and Japan invading adjacent countries. He recounts his first two years at West Point as being rather typical for the plebe and yearling years³ and by May of 1942 had the interest and physical ability to spend that summer taking primary Army Air Corps training at Santa Maria, CA in a Stearman, two seater biplanes.

His return from California in August required a stop in Albany, NY where he had a tryst with a Smith College senior. As described by Stockton, Together … we learned from each other the basics of heterosexual copulation … on the moment I became totally and happily addicted to this new-found activity, as a shooter is to heroin. As a Wino is to Muscatel. The addiction lasted for the next quarter century, until Reta (his last wife) established beyond reasonable argument that… she was all the woman I could handle on any level of male/female intercourse in any degree of intimacy on any given day. And twice on Sunday.⁴

World War two was upon the nation and the original USMA class of 1943 would graduate in January 1943 and Stockton’s 1944 class would graduate in June 1943. He was now an Air Cadet and as such took daily flying training at Stewart Field until his fateful run-in with his flight instructor. Stockton was not enamored with flying for its own sake; rather he saw it as a means to get the combat job done. His First Lieutenant flight instructor had a low opinion of these Air Cadets and was convinced they were getting through flight training the easy way. Following a sneering post flight evaluation of that particular day’s flight, Stockton told his flight instructor he "…despised any officer who did not take his current assignment most seriously, whether or not he liked the job … it was contemptible individuals such as himself who besmirched the reputation of the US Army with their snivelly-nosed attitudes."⁵ They came to blows and were separated by the Captain Flight Commander who later offered Stockton the opportunity to resign without prejudice from the Army Air Corps, which he did.

He was unable to select Cavalry as his branch, because he ranked too low in his class and instead choose Armor as the branch in which he would be commissioned. In September of 1943 he reported to his first unit of assignment in California where he took command of a tank platoon in Charlie Company of the 46th Tank Battalion, 13th Armored Division The Black Cats. They completed their pre-deployment training and arrived in England in February 1944 and then France on 29 July 1944 as a part of the Third United States Army. Captain George Jackson was his company commander, whom he greatly admired, and as they fought their way across France their unit became battle-tested warriors and Stockton continued learning from his soldiers and his company commander.

He admired Captain Jackson for many reasons and in using one word to describe him he chose the word compassionate. Jackson was a leader, which was demonstrated daily in California as he trained his men and in combat as they fought their way across France. He set an example of what an officer was supposed to be and do. He was decisive, competent in tactics, was always where the action was, and at the end of each day made his rounds of the company making sure the men and their equipment were ready for the following day’s combat. Following his nightly rounds, he returned to his command post, shaved and cleaned up, issued any orders for the following day, and read any letters the First Sergeant had drafted for him (for the relatives of any of his men who were killed in battle) and went to sleep. He averaged four hours of sleep and was up and about by 0430 to ensure the company was ready for whatever action they encountered that day. A sniper in the outskirts of the town of Kronberg killed Captain Jackson and Lieutenant Ross assumed command of the company.

That evening in the command post, Stockton learned another lesson from the First Sergeant, one that he described 53 years later. Lieutenant Ross had completed his report to battalion and turned to the First Sergeant. Say, Allen, Sergeant Benson looked up sharply. Excuse me, Lieutenant. I knew Captain George D. Jackson for over two years, and he was my company commander for fifteen months. Not once in all that time did he call me anything but Benson, or Sergeant, or both. The captain didn’t believe in familiarity in a combat unit, he said. I don’t know if he was right or wrong according to the latest OCS gospel, but that’s the way he did business. I’d appreciate it, sir, if we went along with his system.

After a pause, Tom Ross answered, You’re right Sergeant, and Captain Jackson was right. I guess it’s just that I’m depressed and lonely and afraid tonight.⁶

In December of 1944, his Battalion Commander informed Stockton, that he was to take charge of a provisional company consisting of a mortar platoon, a tank destroyer platoon, an automatic weapons platoon, and an assault gun platoon. His battalion commander had these words for First Lieutenant Stockton, That means they need a commander to pull them together. I’ve decided to give you a crack at it. If you can make a going concern out of this mess, I’ll promote you to Captain in a couple of months. If you can’t, I’ll find somebody who can and I’ll put you on the staff writing reports. Now, what do you have to say?⁷

Although he was junior to three of the Lieutenants he was to command, he accepted the command of this provisional unit. The battalion already had four line companies, A, B, C, and D company. The thought of naming his command Company E was beyond the authority of the battalion commander so his unit was designated Tiger 36 and remained such until the end of the war in Europe.

If this had been a tank company there would have been no issues on what or how to command the company. In this case it was a provisional company consisting of four very different weapon systems with no idea on how to employ them. The Mortar Platoon consisted of four 81 mm mortars and crews mounted in half-track carriers; There were four tanks in the assault gun platoon and rather than having 76 mm guns they had 105 mm guns mounted; the automatic weapons platoon rule that he had four half-track vehicles with each vehicle mounted with four (quad) 50 Caliber machine guns, and the tank destroyer platoon consisted of four vehicles mounted on a track, low profile chassis, with a 90 mm gun and an open turret which protected them from small arms fire but provided no overhead protection from artillery.

So, he took command and had two problems from the beginning; the other three First Lieutenants’ outranked him, and these platoons had never operated as a unit. To handle the first problem, the battalion commander wanted him in command and it was his problem on how to handle that. He asserted his authority, in one case with his fists, and eventually relieved the tank destroyer platoon leader, at gunpoint, for refusing to obey an order he had given him.⁸ The second problem, training in combat, was much harder than training back in the states. He was expected to have an operational company the day after he took command and that didn’t happen.

Training, while conducting combat operations, is an on-going part of warfare but usually you have time to work with a provisional unit before you commit the unit to combat. Stockton understood what and how a tank platoon was to operate but now he had four diverse platoons, with no guidance on how to use them. The four platoon leaders had never operated as a team and pretty much ran their platoon the way they wanted to, simply because they had never been in a company.

Stockton, this twenty-two-year-old First Lieutenant, fell back on the only combat experience he had, as a tank platoon leader, and decided to use them as he did his former tank platoon. The mortar platoon would provide fire support from the rear of the company and the assault gun platoon and the tank destroyer platoon were his two tank platoons and the automatic weapons platoon (since there was no air threat) were used as his reserve platoon or against dismounted infantry when encountered. Slowly but surely the company started to develop a cohesive character, which took about a month before the unit really coalesced. This was accomplished with Stockton prodding and cajoling until it was done to his satisfaction. He was learning a great lesson in leadership, which would stand him in good stead in the years ahead.

They continued their way into Germany and on the morning of May 8, 1945 the word was passed down that everyone was to monitor a certain channel on their radio. As they tuned to that channel, they heard the voice of General Eisenhower instructing them to cease-fire, fight only in self-defense and to remain in their present positions, the war was over. They were on the edge of a little town in Austria called Braunau, the town where Hitler was born.

It is interesting that in his biography, The Cavalry Trade he devotes eight pages discussing how he learned to fly a captured German observation airplane called the Feisler Storch, and goes into detail of how he soloed in the aircraft⁹ but he does not discuss, anywhere, his training in Army flight school. By now he had been promoted to Captain and soon received orders sending him back to the United States.

He returned to the United States with instructions to report to West Point as a member of the faculty where he was the principal French instructor teaching plebes for their first year and yearlings for their last two years. In 1948 he attended the Armor Officer Advanced Course at Fort Knox, Kentucky and upon graduation was assigned, as the single exchange student, to attend the French Staff College from July 1949 through August 1950. Upon graduation from this staff college he had also met the career requirement for completion of the United States Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. These five years of academic pursuit were a definite change from his year in combat.

On 25 June 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea and Stockton expected to be sent to Korea.¹⁰ Instead he was assigned to the First Constabulary Brigade in Wiesbaden, Germany as a part of the occupation force. He remained on this occupation duty until the early summer of 1953 and then returned to Fort Carson, Colorado and was assigned to the Eleventh Cavalry Regiment. He was a Major by this time and was hopeful of commanding one of the squadrons in the Regiment; instead he was assigned as the Regimental Executive Officer (XO). His expectation to command one of the squadrons was a reach, even for Stockton, since these squadrons were commanded by Lieutenant Colonels. However, in December of 1953 he in fact was appointed as commander of the Second Squadron Eleventh Cavalry. In mid-1954 the regiment moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky at which time the squadron took on the task of training inductees and ROTC graduates into the ranks of the Army.¹¹

This was an experiment and forerunner of the battle group concept as opposed to the regimental system, which was to follow in several years. They taught basic and advanced training and formed them into a cavalry regiment. There were two things he learned about training these soldiers that became a part of his future modus operandi. The first was Friday night retreat ceremonies and the second was forming his own bugler and drum soldiers to conduct ceremonies of his design. In April of 1955 he left the squadron and shortly thereafter apparently attended flight school and became a fixed wing aviator.

In 1956 he was the commander of the Third Aviation Company, Third Infantry Division (Rock of the Marne) at Fort Benning, Georgia. Following his assignment there he must have become qualified in rotary wing aircraft (helicopters) and attended the War College 1960 to 1961. In his own irreverent words, Then by a stroke of great good fortune I tumbled into the plum TDY assignment as the first Aviation Officer for LTG McGarr at MAAG Vietnam from November 1961 to April 1962.¹²

While there he tried various ideas on tactics and techniques of arming and shooting, utilizing the Observation Helicopter (OH-13). Upon his return from Vietnam, he was assigned to the Army Tactical Mobility Requirements Board (USATMRB) under the direction of Lieutenant General Hamilton Howze at Fort Bragg, North Carolina for 90 days. This was followed by a series of short assignments in the Washington, DC area followed by permanent change of station orders assigning him to the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) at Fort Benning.

Brief background on Bert Chole

Hilbert (Bert) Chole was born in a house on the wind swept plains of North Dakota on June 16, 1936. His father was an immigrant from Germany married to Ida Bender a first generation American born to German immigrants from Russia. They already had another boy and a girl and a second girl was born two years later on June 16, 1938. His parents had recently returned from Canada where they made a very unsuccessful attempt at farming. Having lost most of their money and possessions due to the depression and poor markets for their grain, his father took jobs wherever he could find them. He worked as a hired hand on various farms in the area and the following year took a full time job as a janitor at a movie theater in Harvey, ND. The family rented an unpainted two story house with no electricity nor indoor plumbing and his father also worked part time as an upholsterer. They lived on the wrong side of the railroad tracks with a hobo camp between them and the downtown part of Harvey on the other side of the tracks.

One of Chole’s vivid memories of his childhood was trips to and from school at the Harvey elementary school. All of the children who lived on their side of the tracks used a wooden overpass to cross over the railroad tracks. The overpass was about twenty or thirty feet above the ground which allowed the trains to pass freely and kept the pedestrians off the railroad tracks. He decided one day on the way home not to walk on the boardwalk but climb up on the guard rail and walk it to the other side of the tracks. He explained what happened to him as result of that decision. Mom just happened to be on our front porch and saw this child walking the guard rail and started to yell and run to the overpass. As she drew closer, she recognized me and soon I was in deep trouble. She whipped me all the way home and was very angry that I would do something so stupid and if I did it again, she would spank me to within an inch of my life. Well, she convinced me I better not do that again.

In 1943 the family moved to Bremerton, Washington where Chole’s parents were both employed in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, his father as an upholsterer and his mother as a time keeper. The train trip from Harvey to Bremerton was memorable in that the train was packed with service men which really impressed the young Chole.

They moved into government managed housing in east Bremerton called Sheridan Park. He felt it was a miracle to live in a house with running water, central heating and best of all a bathroom inside the house. This was indeed a miracle and in addition to that they had hot and cold water on demand and showers! From Chole’s point of view it just couldn’t be any better than that. They had landed in Paradise! Within a year his father purchased a small house on the west side of Bremerton and immediately hand dug a basement, poured hand mixed concrete for the floor and used concrete blocks to enclose the basement. Later he built an addition to the house and a garage, and did the wiring and plumbing. He was a multitalented hard-working man who got things accomplished. Chole often comments that We were poor, but I never realized that until I was in my thirties. We always had food, clothing, and a lot of love.

He attended the Navy Yard City grade school, the Coontz Junior High School, and graduated from Bremerton High School. College was never considered nor discussed. Until 1946 his Father and Mother both worked in the Navy Yard, his older sister and brother both worked which left Bert and his sister Miriam alone after school until one of the adults came home. As he explained, We lived next to a patch of woods of approximately two square miles, and had a lot of fun playing cowboys and Indians, hide and seek, building forts, climbing trees, making bows and arrows and just running around in the woods. If I got tired of that and wanted to go downtown, I would pick up coke or milk bottles from the side of the road and turn them in for five cents a bottle at our local food store, which was enough to pay my bus fare downtown and back. At ten years of age I would ride the bus to and from town and go to the five and ten cent store and have an ice cream cone or just walk around until I got bored and would then catch a bus back home. Bremerton was a Navy town with sailors wherever you looked and it seemed a there was a bar on every corner downtown. Just observing the activity in this town was an education to me.

In 1946 his father was laid off from the Navy Yard, as defense work was scaled way back following the end of World War II. He took a job working for the Navy as an upholsterer in Kodiak, Alaska for a year or two. His older brother had enlisted in the Army in 1944 and was now in Germany as a part of the Constabulary Corps which was administrating Germany, following their surrender, and his older sister soon married a wonderful sailor, Bob Sedlor.

Chole’s father did not want to be separated from his mother and within two years had returned to Bremerton and found work as an upholsterer working for a man named Ray Rivas. At the age of twelve Chole was hired by Mr. Rivas to keep the shop clean and assist in delivering and picking up furniture for a sum of fifty cents per hour. Mr. Rivas was a pilot and owned his own plane and anytime they had work near the airport he and Chole would fly over Hood Canal and Puget Sound.

His High School Years were vocational in nature and he spent as much time in the Auto Shop learning how to diagnose, repair, and rebuild automobiles as possible. He purchased a 1936 Ford Roadster, put on cut-away straight pipes, a leopard skin top soon adorned his convertible top and covered the seats, and installed blue dot tail lights.

He graduated from High School in 1954, enlisted in the National Guard as a Scout Observer in the Washington State 41st Infantry Division in the Reconnaissance Company. He married his High School sweetheart and they moved to Seattle where he went to work with the Boeing Company.

His first summer camp at Camp Murray was spent as a scout observer in a gun jeep in the Reconnaissance Company. After he had moved to Seattle he was transferred as a Patrolman to the Military Police Company of the division. His experience as a patrolman during his second year at the Camp Murray summer camp honed his physical fighting skills as he broke up numerous fights.

Boeing had been building jet tankers for the Air Force and decided to close down the production line for several months and reconfigure the line to support the introduction of the first commercial passenger jet, the 707. Chole was laid off for six months and decided that since his brother was in the Army and he enjoyed the National Guard he might as well enlist in the active Army. He tried to convince the recruiter to let him enlist for basic training at Fort Ord, California and then get assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington. The recruiter told him he had a better deal for him, he could enlist to go to Germany with the Eighth Infantry Division. Chole declined the offer so the recruiter told him the only thing he could do was enlist into the regular army unassigned.

After passing the physical and signing all papers he boarded a plane to Fort Ord, California. Chole thought this was starting good. He finished his in-processing at Fort Ord, California and was assigned to the Eighth Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado for basic training and subsequent shipment to Germany with the division. This was not turning out as he had hoped. This was called Operation Gyroscope with the entire division moving overseas to Germany. His thoughts on his assignment to Germany were outlined in a pamphlet he wrote about Leadership and Command.

"My arrival in Germany in 1956 as a Private First Class exposed me indirectly to a commander who would have a profound influence on my career and life. As I walked into the Orderly Room of Service Company of the 28th Infantry Regiment (The Lions of Cantigny), of the Eighth Infantry Division at Heilbronn, Germany I saw this poster conspicuously mounted over the First Sergeants desk.

"An Organization Does Well Only Those

Things The Boss Checks"

While I didn’t realize it at the time, this was my first lesson in command. General Bruce C. Clarke, the Commanding General of USAREUR was the author of that poster. While it was a long stretch from the Commanding General of USAREUR to this Private in the rear ranks, it was an indelible lesson in command that helped shape my career. Twenty-one years later when I was the Squadron Commander of the 1st Squadron 17th Cavalry of the 82nd Airborne Division, I had the privilege of inviting General Clarke to be the guest speaker at our squadron winter formal. His talk that evening was on training and leadership.

Later in the evening I had the opportunity to have an in-depth discussion with him on many topics. One of those topics was leadership, and he reminded me again of his well-known views on the subject. ‘There are only three positions in the Army that have the title leader attached to them. Squad Leader, Section Leader and Platoon Leader. Thereafter, the positions are titled Company Commander, Battalion Commander, Brigade Commander, and Commanding General. I hope you know the distinction Colonel.’

He was referring to the technique of getting things done. A Leader uses the force of his personal example and presence to get things done. This analogy from some unknown author has provided me a terrific example to use over the years when discussing leadership. ‘Have you ever tried to get a string to move in a straight line? I defy you to get behind it and push it in a straight line. Grab it, and step out smartly. It will follow in a straight line.’ You can only lead from one place, the front. A commander on the other hand, is a director who coordinates, trains, issues orders, inspects and motivates his subordinate commanders and staff to get things done. The Art of command is different from the art of leadership, although leadership is an integral part of command."

Chole’s assignment in the 28th Infantry Regiment, within the division, was as a wheel vehicle mechanic. He attended training in Germany on maintenance procedures and was soon promoted to Sergeant just prior to rotation back to the United States. He was promoted as a heavy weapons infantryman, which changed