TAPS: COL AARON BANK

SFAHQ ^ | 1 April 04 | Mel Smith

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[EternalVigilance]

Could you fix the headline, out of respect for this great patriot?

It should be 'Bank', not 'Banks'.

Thank you kindly.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you for your service, Criminal Number 18F, and for your loving tribute to Col. Aaron Bank, the original Green Beret.*

*previously unknown to this naive civilian.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No Wimps Allowed
Special Operations course tests airmen's mettle

 

~ Col. Aaron Bank ~

Thanks, SAWWolf, snippy.

[Squantos]

You going to attend ?

[blackie]

Col. Aaron Bank ~ Bump!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[Alamo-Girl]

What a beautiful tribute! Thank you for the ping!

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

With all respect Col. Aaron Bank deserves so much more than this thread will get.

The "title" doesn't draw the attention HE deserves.

I mean, he started the "Green Berets". It just seems like a more fitting tribute would insue if the title led people to the thread. Then if the poster had posted a little history on Col. Aaron Bank like jwalsh did people would have connected the dots so to speak. Everyone knows who the Green Berets are, they just don't always know the history or the names.

I mean NO DISRESPECT to anyone, honestly! I know that intentions were good. But WOW.. the Green Berets, I hear the song.. I see the Green Berets and all they did throughout our nations history. All they stood for and stand for. I want stars and stripes for Col. Banks!

I don't think this thread will get the BUMPS or HITS this man deserves or would have gotten with the "right" title to the thread. Just MHO.

Tin foil hat firmly in place, .. just a fellow vet who admires the H*ll out of the man and the Green Berets. But then, who doesn't?

God Bless and rest his eternal soul.

FRegards

[DollyCali]

What a touching tribute CN18F -Thanks for Ping Ragime.

We need more role models like this, don't we?

[DollyCali]

Founder of Green Berets dies at 100... tribute thread

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping ! Fascinating man, the country owes a great debt to this man and his followers. The Special Forces will be a key instrument in the coming battles:

Locked in a Cosmic Battle With Islam

[archy]

Of my three original SF inspirations: John Wayne died of lung cancer. Barry Sadler shot himself in a taxicab in Tegucigalpa, somewhat the worse for alcohol; and Robin Moore, who's just trucking along at 79 years of age with a new book out, had a scotch on the rocks with me at the Hanscom AFB O club last night.

Captain Larry Thorne, in my case. Everyone in 10th Group had told me so much about him, like the eccentric family uncle who nevertheless has done good, becoming a millionaire in Vegas and marrying a Hollywood starlet. I was looking forward to the meeting that probably eventually would have happened, had he not been KIA.

And of course, FReeper RANGERAIRBORNE was no doubt holding a seat at Valhalla's Hall of Heroes for Aaron Bank when he arrived, as well as any number of SF legends at the banquet. We may run across them again someday, if we follow their examples of the way they conducted their lives and concluded them.

It seems Aaron Bank took his final journey very near the same time as Rock-and-Roll and surf music luminary Jan Berry of Jan and Dean. Though very different individuals, both were unique and driven individuals who excelled at the careers they loved, and it's not difficult to imigine the two of them as acquaintences now.

[archy]

[archy]

Unfortunately, I struck out finding the steel-jawed Bad Tölz picture.

I'm working on it.

[Khurkris]

Friday, April 2, 2004
‘Father of the Green Berets’ dies
Col. Aaron Bank, 101, helped establish the Army’s Special Forces.
Orange County Register, local paper
DANA POINT – Retired Army Col. Aaron Bank, known as the father of the Army’s elite Special Forces, has died. He was 101.
Bank died Thursday of natural causes at his home in an assisted-living facility in Dana Point, his son-in-law, Bruce Ballantine, told the Los Angeles Times.
Bank led a number of daring missions during World War II as a special operations officer for the Office of Strategic Services but was best known for his postwar role in organizing and serving as the first commander of the Army’s elite Special Forces, The Times reported.
The OSS, forerunner of the CIA, was disbanded soon after the war. But Bank and others were convinced the Army should have a permanent unit whose mission would be to conduct unconventional operations.
In 1952, after Bank and other staff members made their case, the Army approved 2,300 spaces for men in a Special Forces unit – the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) – at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Today, there are about 7,700 soldiers in five active-duty and two National Guard Special Forces groups. At Fort Bragg, still the home of the Green Berets, Bank is considered a military icon.
Bank is survived by his wife, Catherine; their two daughters, Linda Ballantine of Dana Point and Alexandra Elliott of Anaheim; and a granddaughter.
A funeral service, with full military and Special Forces honors, will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at Riverside National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, P.O. Box 14385, Tampa, FL 33690.

RIP Sir.

[Criminal Number 18F]

You'll know the picture when you see it. He's sitting at his desk. I just can't remember where I found it.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

I mentioned the allegory that Col. Bank wrote. Here it is (there are two versions, at least. This is the shorter one).

Special Forces

An Allegoric History Presented by Colonel Aaron Bank, USA (Ret)

There is a saying, that giant oaks from acorns grow.

The oak I am referring to, although not a giant in physical stature, is indeed a giant in potential and versatility.

On a momentous day, a tiny group of disciples of Unconventional Warfare planted a tiny acorn in the nation’s grove of military giant oaks.

As that event took place, the mighty, well established, patrician oaks noted these interlopers and their intent with an angry rustling of branches and stiffening of massive trunks.

But when that sprouting acorn thrust its tiny stem through the earth’s crust there was no rustling, rather a twisting and cracking of trunks and rattling of branches with leaves tumbling to the ground as if to smother it. Altogether, a sign of outrage and protest, as the leading elements directed icy blast in its direction. “No, it cannot remain; it does not belong. It is of unacceptable parentage – civilian,” was the message carried by the blasts. “It represents radical doctrine and concepts.”

Undaunted, that tiny, feisty oak sank its roots deeper into the rich soil of the legacy left by its parent.

And as its tiny stem widened and turned into a trunk, it started to reach for the sky.

And as it developed, it sprouted branches, aimed in a planned direction, prepared to assist and support its parent when required.

All of this did not escape the notice of the older, patrician oaks who were in fear that renegade oak would taint the grove.

Then one day the “Call to Arms” echoed throughout the grove.

The giants eyed that determined fledgling oak with doubt and disdain. “Prove yourself.”

The long persecuted, daring oak rose to the challenge. And as it valiantly conducted its specialized, unconventional functions, supported by its branches, grudgingly the aristocratic giants realized that the young oak did have a role that they were incapable of performing. A role that broadened and extended the dimensions and parameters of the military’s capabilities and options as never before. And they began to nod and sway in approval.

Now a member of the grove’s brotherhood and grown to maturity, that ragged, gnarled oak with a majestic green dome that has assumed the shape of beret, is gazed upon, not with awe but with admiration, respect, appreciation and faith, that it will always merit its cherished motto, “De Oppresso Liber.”

[SandRat]

[Darksheare]

Rest in peace Colonel Bank.
You will be and are missed.

[Archangelsk]

Sigh, why does it always take a tanker to point out the obvious: call the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, they'll probably have a copy of the photo.

[archy]

Sigh, why does it always take a tanker to point out the obvious: call the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, they'll probably have a copy of the photo.

Weekend PAO staff. If I haven't found a copy by Monday, I'll try that course, at the Benning School for Boys first.

FYI, I did my first tour as an enlisted M48 crewman; my MOS out of AIT was 11E10, 11E1P shortly thereafter.