Letters

Army,  Feb 2007  

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The Legacy of Gen. Abrams

* Although early in my career I served in the 1-37th Armor, 4th Armored Division-the lineal descendant of Gen. Creighton Abrams' battalion in the Battle of the Bulge, where I was immersed in his legend-I met him only twice. The meetings, as with those of Brig. Gen. Robert L. Dilworth, U.S. Army retired, ("Front & Center," January) have stayed with me until this day.

Gen. Abrams came to visit my cavalry squadron in his old 3rd Armored Division during his tenure as Chief. He arrived with my somewhat nervous brigade commander and we headed out to the local training area to look at Sheridan gunnery training. He went into the debriefing tent while a very weak lieutenant was being debriefed on a poor mock Table VIII run (the stressful tank crew proficiency table). Abrams came out shaking his head, asking me what I was going to do about the lieutenant. I said we would continue to train him and see what happened at Grafenwoehr.

On the way back to the kaserne, he asked if the local battery factory was still raising Cain about our tracks leaving mud on the road in front of its building. He remarked that when he had been assistant division commander he had always picked up a cavalry troop and moved to a critical forward position during alerts-something no commander in my memory had ever thought of-because he knew that was where the battle would be fought. And then he was gone, but not before he signed my Girl Scout daughter's autograph book, to the dismay of my brigade commander.

Three months later he accompanied secretary of Def ense James Schlesinger on a trip to Europe and escorted him to Grafenwoehr. They came to my range because Schlesinger wanted to fire a Sheridan. While the secretary of Defense went to a Sheridan, Abrams took me aside to ask me how the lieutenant was doing. Fortunately he had improved, and I could show the scores to prove it. I never forgot that without any aide taking notes, the Chief, with all his responsibilities, had been interested enough to follow up on his previous visit.

His like may not come again.

COL. MICHAEL D. MAHLER, USA RET.

Bozeman, Mont.

"Unintended Consequences"

* Maj. Gen. Meloy's article on balancing regulations with common sense when dealing with the Army weight standard regulation ("Front & Center," January) was a great example of overcoming a rigid mind-set and strict obedience to the dogma of the day. I, too, faced a similar situation in the late 1960s as the commander of a National Guard MP unit in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. Our unit had just been transformed from a tank outfit into MPs-from grease to glitter. Part of our "transformation dogma" was holding formations on each day of our weekend drills, during which our former tankers stood inspection for, among other things, spit-shined boots and clean hands.

As the months since our switch wore on, I noticed that one of our older-looking members was not wearing any stripes. My first sergeant told me that he couldn't pass our inspections-his boots were always polished poorly and his hands were always dirty, thus no promotion, even for time in grade. If he didn't clean up his act, I was told, we would have to muster him out.

I had the private report to my office. After telling me he couldn't shine his boots any better and that his hands were clean (they were severely blackened), I took out my shoeshine kit from my bottom desk drawer, told him to put a boot on a nearby chair and I went to work. After 10 minutes of dabbing, buffing and the like, his boots appeared no better. Then we went into the latrine where I asked him to wash his hands. He scrubbed and scrubbed to no effect. His hands were still dirty looking.

Then I asked him two questions. "What did you do when you were a tanker?"

"A mechanic," he said. He added that his two pair of Army-issued boots had become impregnated with Oil and grease. Then I asked him what he did for a living. "I'm a coal miner," he answered. He told me his hands, especially his fingers, had become permanently stained with coal dust from years of laboring underground. I dismissed him and called in my first sergeant. I instructed him to get the private new boots and to cut orders promoting him immediately. In a few months we had a new PFC with shiny boots. White gloves took care of his hands when he performed MP duties. As in Gen. Meloy's case, common sense overcame rigidity and a good soldier stayed in uniform.

COL. WILLIAM HARRIS, AUS RET.

Bethlehem, Pa.

The Army Uniform

* While attending the AUSA Annual Meeting, I was in front of my hotel when a young couple politely asked if I'd hail them a cab. I told them I was waiting for one, too. Only then did it dawn on the man that I was in the U.S. Army, that I was not the doorman.

So much for the Army blue uniform. It's attractive, flashy and gets attention; but it's not suitable for, as they say, your day job. But that's the current, misguided plan, although AR 670-1 has yet to be rewritten to make the switch from green to blue for general use, and it will take a few years and millions of tax dollars to implement the proposed changes.