Posted on 09/13/2014 7:20:24 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I lived in W-S, NC, 1981-1996. The city built a new indoor arena in his honor during the late 1980s - Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Auditorim. Nice facility. Became the home for WFU basketball. At its dedication it was somewhat controversial because of the design of a memorial to veterans from W-S - a brickyard full of stone cenotaphs in honor of them. They were about 3 feet hight - just the right height to “rack” a guy upon leaving a ball game who had a little too much to imbibe.
The Specialist Grades did confuse many as to exactly what authority they had. What specific rank did it correspond with, etc.
The Marine Corps is much more of an elite, shock troop, assault force and is normally MUCH smaller than the Army. The Army can afford to have two enlisted tracks, as they have had since the War Between the States, off-and-on. I left as a Spec/6 and wasn’t great NCO material, but I wasn’t in the combat arms. Far from it.
I had an acting corporal try to tell me to do something one day. Hahahahaha!
Not to beat a dead horse, but I agree and think the Army did a great disservice to itself and to a lot of soldiers when they did away with the specialist career tracks for the reasons I mentioned previously and others...
I think as the military becomes increasingly reliant on technology and information systems an even stronger argument can be made. If you have a seriously competent Steve Jobs or Bill Gates type computer nerd who wants to serve and is very capable of making contributions in that area, give them the opportunity to do so. Knowing that the sons of America were about to storm a beach, I would want exactly such a person hacking and degrading an enemy's defensive systems. I would not want such a person leading them on the ground.
The Billy Gates analogy was great. Why would the Army drum someone like him out just because he can't call cadence for a platoon of basic trainees? Makes no sense...
> He was the first living black American to have received the Medal of Honor since the Spanish-American War in 1898.
He died in 1984?
Medal of Honor Press Conference: Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4NHeJTaJOo&index=2&list=PLitjSv4Sbrky0sK2t-AEVvxemFh9BS1Sx
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