Hillbilly – Husband - Soldier – Civilian: Book Two, Ft Mcclellan and Germany

By Steve Walker

Welcome to Book Two Where Steve will entertain you with a few of the more funny and entertaining missions from the adventures on Pelham Range Regimental Aggressor Platoon. Exerts from the letters that Steve and Cindy exchanged are included. The art of letter writing is almost lost to the ages at this point in our lives. Let’s dig in so you can get to the missions and letters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669825524

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 by Steve Walker.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 05/23/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

842101

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Drill Sergeant School

Chapter 2 How to Win with Less against the Best

Chapter 3 Ammunition Section

Chapter 4 Viet Cong Village, Daytime Raid Weapons Cache

Chapter 5 BNOC Class

Chapter 6 Orders to Germany, Third MP Company

Chapter 7

CHAPTER ONE

Drill Sergeant School

I had to make a decision to go to Drill Sergeant school or Recruiter school. Because of the lasting positive influence that my drill sergeants made on me, I wanted to become a Drill Sergeant. I should have gone to recruiting. Bad idea. First, because I was still an E-5 (sergeant) I had to make a request for special acceptance. The request was approved. Off to the States we went. Leaving Japan for thirty days of leave before reporting to Fort McClellan, AL. Cindy and Matthew went with me. There was a long waiting list for housing at Fort McClellan, but it was easy to rent a house off post. They had a list of preferred renters, and we were able to find a house easily.

When I was in processing Fort McClellan, I brought up the miscalculation of promotion points in Japan to the head of promotions. I showed her the evidence of the calculations, and she agreed with my math. She submitted the proper documentation, and I would get promoted to Staff Sergeant (E-6) in a few weeks with a bunch of backpay to come several months later. That was a win, but the worse part was soon to come at Drill Sergeant school.

Drill Sergeant School, oh boy, I was not prepared for the buzzsaw that I ran head-on to. My brain simply did not process the teaching methods for some reason. Do not get me wrong, I tried, and so did the instructors as well as several of my buddies. Looking back, the instructors had no choice but to fail me. I would have failed my sorry backside too. My first major setback in the military, and it would haunt me for years to come, but it also made me try harder at everything I did from that day forward. Cindy continued to support me in every way she could. I know she was disappointed that I failed the course, but she stayed true to supporting her husband no matter what. What a trooper; she was under extremely tough circumstances. How did she do it? The only explanation I have is unconditional love, and she had plenty of that to give to me.

Cindy wanted to have more children, so we kept trying. She became pregnant and was admitted to Nobile Army Hospital where she had a miscarriage that was devastating to her. I continued to support her wanting more children even though in the back of my mind, it hurt me to see her putting her body and mind through the disappointment of having a miscarriage. This would happen again several months later. Again, seeing the disappointment in her eyes hurt me badly, but I was determined to support her wishes to have another child. I pleaded with her to stop putting her body and mind through the disappointment. This did put a strain on our marriage; however, we were strong in our conviction for each other. This was the last miscarriage at Fort McClellan but not the last. How Cindy was able to go through her medical issues and still support me one hundred percent like she did was a testament to the strength and strong will she had. She was truly my rock and compass.

I was assigned to the Regimental Aggressor Platoon. In some ways, this was good for me. It gave me the chance to lead troops in the field and go against NCOs and Officers as I will explain further. I bonded well with my soldiers probably because I worked as hard if not harder than they did. I had something to prove, and I threw myself at it with everything I had in me.

Don’t drink and drive

How many times have we heard that sentence? I got a call one night that my Assistant Squad Leader had been involved in a traffic accident and had been pronounced dead. I was devastated, as was the entire Platoon. It turned out he had been out drinking at one of the local drinking establishments in Anniston. One of our Squad Leaders was with him and had the chance to take his keys away from him. In my humble opinion, he had the duty and responsibility to take the keys away. He didn’t, and this created a rift between that Squad Leader and me that was irreparable. The Assistant Squad Leader had a sunroof on his vehicle. He wasn’t wearing his seat belt and went around a corner too fast. The vehicle flipped and he was decapitated. There was a memorial held at the post chapel. Hundreds came to the event. It was standing-room-only, and there was not a dry eye in the chapel. Needless to say, the Aggressor Platoon was hit hard by this event. The open rift between myself and the other Squad Leader split the platoon in half. These wounds would never heal. There were times that I had E-4 (Specialist) as Assistant Squad Leaders, but the missions kept coming. If you manage the lower enlisted properly and set expectations for them, they can handle the jobs. Good leaders should always be mentoring their soldiers to take their jobs. Don’t be afraid to train them up.

CHAPTER TWO

How to Win with Less against the Best

T his all created a bond among our soldiers that was unshakable. We always knew what our jobs were, and we knew where each person was. One could say we were a well-oiled machine. Night or day, it did not matter. We had faith in each other and our abilities. The classes were a hodgepodge of so-called leaders thrown together that could not get out of their own way to see who was in charge even though they had a schedule that told them who was in charge day by day. Have a little humility and be humble sometimes. This is what we counted on. We counted that most of the time they could not figure out who was in charge; thus, the mission was doomed from the get-go for them. Once we confirmed what category the class fell into, we knew how to beat them. We would tell them in the after-action report too. Most of the time they still did not listen. "Great sign of