I went through Airborne School in November ‘76. There were several classmates at Infantry Officers Basic, trying to convince me to do Ranger School. I declined, I knew my limitations.
I went through Airborne training after ROTC Summer Camp in 1974. That was the most fun I had of all my Army training. I went through IOBC in the Summer of 1975. Would have done Ranger School, but my wife was pregnant at the time.
My one year as a Mech Infantry Platoon Leader had two West Point graduates. One was pretty sharp; the other was an idiot. Both of them were sadly lacking on the elements of a night mounted assault. They and the A-hole OCS company commander didn’t know that there is supposed to be a code word to begin the final assault. I was insistent that there was and that the CO should check with BN HQ. The CPT finally told me, “That’s enough LT.” My response was “O.K.”
We got into position and immediately headed up the ridge; got to the top; got called to the CO’s track who had the saddest look on his face you could imagine. There was a code word to begin the final assault. I laughed my ass off. What made it worse was that the BN CO, BDE CO, and Assistant Division Commander for Operations were our objective.
Since I was RA Transportation Corp and had decided by that point I wasn’t going to make it a career, I didn’t give a shit about my OERs.
Thanks for serving. Those types of men who apply are the kind you WANT to apply, who may not yet know they have limits, and the training process weeds out those who really aren’t suitable. A special breed of man, no doubt.