Bruce (VA)
Well-known Member
One of the neighbors is from MI & was talking yesterday about watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. That reminded me of a “war story” which I related to him; he got a laugh out of it & I thought you might as well.
In the spring of 1970, I was a 20 year old buck sergeant with the D Co, 10th Special Forces at FT Devens MA. There was quite a contingent of us on light duty who were medevaced from Viet-Nam and couldn’t participate in the usual training & details. I was in a cast after surgery on my wrist & got assigned as the 7am-4pm gopher for the company Sergeant Major. Other than always having to look like a real soldier (boots shined, hair cut, starched fatigues, etc) it was a do-nothing job. And, after a few weeks, I got the idea of what he expected out of me (not much other than making coffee) & how to make his day a bit easier. One of those tricks was just telling every feel-good organization wanting to do something “for the troops” that we were “over committed and unable to respond to your most thoughtful invitation to attend the (fill in the blank)”. Fully 99% of these invites were from the Ladies Flower Club, the Flingwort All Boys Glee Club concert, etc, etc. All of you vets will remember this; most guys attending these type of events were ordered to do so. We of course never got asked to send 10 soldiers down to Joe’s Bar to drink beer & ogle women.
So, I was prepared w/ the stock answer when the call came in from post HQ to send someone down to pick up 2 tickets for 2 of our soldiers to attend some event in Boston. Remember, I’m a southern boy. I’d never heard of ice hockey & the Stanley Cup Playoffs didn’t mean jack to me. So, without batting an eye, the caller got the usual response. Sorry. We’re over committed & can’t send anybody to see Mr. Stanley play hockey. Or something like that.
All was fine until the B Co Sergeant Major called my Sergeant Major to thank him for the extra tickets. Well, my Sergeant Major had damn sure heard of the Stanly Cup playoffs & he was all over the duty roster trying to find out who was answering the phone after hours & would have done something that stupid! Of course, all the guys working after 4pm honestly denied ever talking to anybody about tickets! And, thank God, he never asked me!
In the spring of 1970, I was a 20 year old buck sergeant with the D Co, 10th Special Forces at FT Devens MA. There was quite a contingent of us on light duty who were medevaced from Viet-Nam and couldn’t participate in the usual training & details. I was in a cast after surgery on my wrist & got assigned as the 7am-4pm gopher for the company Sergeant Major. Other than always having to look like a real soldier (boots shined, hair cut, starched fatigues, etc) it was a do-nothing job. And, after a few weeks, I got the idea of what he expected out of me (not much other than making coffee) & how to make his day a bit easier. One of those tricks was just telling every feel-good organization wanting to do something “for the troops” that we were “over committed and unable to respond to your most thoughtful invitation to attend the (fill in the blank)”. Fully 99% of these invites were from the Ladies Flower Club, the Flingwort All Boys Glee Club concert, etc, etc. All of you vets will remember this; most guys attending these type of events were ordered to do so. We of course never got asked to send 10 soldiers down to Joe’s Bar to drink beer & ogle women.
So, I was prepared w/ the stock answer when the call came in from post HQ to send someone down to pick up 2 tickets for 2 of our soldiers to attend some event in Boston. Remember, I’m a southern boy. I’d never heard of ice hockey & the Stanley Cup Playoffs didn’t mean jack to me. So, without batting an eye, the caller got the usual response. Sorry. We’re over committed & can’t send anybody to see Mr. Stanley play hockey. Or something like that.
All was fine until the B Co Sergeant Major called my Sergeant Major to thank him for the extra tickets. Well, my Sergeant Major had damn sure heard of the Stanly Cup playoffs & he was all over the duty roster trying to find out who was answering the phone after hours & would have done something that stupid! Of course, all the guys working after 4pm honestly denied ever talking to anybody about tickets! And, thank God, he never asked me!
