Advanced Military Training

In February of 1953 I got another assignment principally because no one else wanted it. It was a week long Air-Ground Specialist School, teaching the loading of airplanes so the weight would be distributed properly. This was not of high interest to most officers, but again, my position gave me no choice in the matter.

As it turned out, the school was supposed to be for field grade officers (captains and above) with secret clearance. Don’t ask me why it required that type of clearance, just put it down to Army red tape.

All of the field grade officers in the battalion who were qualified found reasons not to go. Of the junior officers available most were ROTC graduates and received only confidential clearance (one level below secret). Again, why OCS and Military Academy grads received secret clearance can only be explained as unknown Army reasoning.

At any rate, I was the only choice left so I packed my duffel bag with fatigues, put on my class A uniform and boarded a train for Southern Pines, North Carolina.

I knew the school was not going to be what I had expected when a headquarters staff car met me at the train and took me to a plantation with a huge home transformed into a school.

It turned out the Army, Navy and Air Force ran the school jointly and each service tended to out-do the other in training aids. It was the first time I had every seen black light and that was just one example of advanced training techniques they employed.

Classes lasted usually from 9 a.m. to noon. After a leisurely lunch, a bus would pull up about 2 p.m. and most of the students would be transported to one of the many golf courses in the area, one of which hosted the U.S. Open one year.

A lowly second lieutenant was not invited to share a foursome, even if he had brought along golf clubs or proper attire.

Another reason I avoided the companionship of the other students, beside the difference in rank, was because of one particular captain. To my dismay, I recognized my former OCS battery commanding officer, the dreaded Captain Fatback. It has been rumored he was relieved of his command when authorities discovered his improper dealings with downtown Lawton uniform suppliers. I made it a point to seat myself away from him in class and I don’t know whether he remembered me or not.

I returned to Camp Atterbury retaining very little learned at the school since my job would never require it. It did help my unit fulfill their obligation, however.