The Days Forward

West Point Class of 1969

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  • 9-11 from Oklahoma – 2001
           On Sept. 11, 2001, my wife and I were visiting my mom in Lawton, OK on the occasion of her 80th birthday just two days before. My dad had […]
  • 9-11 from the Hudson Valley – 2001
    SEPTEMBER 11, 2001      We lived in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York in 2001.  We had retired over a year before from our jobs at West Point and were looking forward to […]
  • 9-11 Near Philadelphia – 2001
         I was at work as Director of Marketing for Jerome Medical in a New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia. Someone received a call about the first attack, and I brought up […]
  • 9-11, The Pentagon – 2001
    By Colonel Harry Dolton, Pentagon Numerous graduates of the Class of 1969 have served in the Pentagon over the past forty-five years in a wide array of military and civilian positions […]
  • A Mercedes Benz on a Captain’s Pay – 1975
    Steve’s story is a surprise ending to George Coan’s “Diary of a Carpool” story – even George doesn’t know the twist in the story! Please read George’s story first and […]
  • A Night On Greasy Mountain – 1969
    Guys who wear the RANGER tab frequently make a distinction between “Summer Rangers” and “Winter Rangers,” especially if they claim to be the latter.  There are several reasons why winter […]
  • A POW Story – 1973
    I was the Aeroscout Platoon leader flying OH-6A scout helicopters for F Troop, 9th Cavalry, from 7 Sep 72 until the Vietnam cease fire announcement by President Nixon on 23 […]
  • A Refrigerator in Korea 1973
    By Suzanne Rice, wife of COL Bill Rice, 1-15 Field Artillery, Camp Stanley, Korea After we moved into a larger place in Ui Jong Bu, Bill decided that we could […]
  • A Semi-final Resting Place, Part 1 – 2018
    I was recently watching a Season 2 episode of “Designated Survivor” and the closing scene showed President Kirkman and his brother standing at the grave of the First Lady who […]
  • A Semi-final Resting Place, Part 2 – 2018
    San Marcos Cemetery, San Marcos, Texas: The San Marcos Cemetery is what I think of when I think of a cemetery. It was not large, nor was it flat, nor […]
  • A Tribute to Army Docs – 1995
    “You have the right knee of a 60-year-old man!” The year was 1995 and I was 48 years old. The Army doctor conducting my retirement physical was surprised when I […]
  • A Tribute to Two Great Pilots – 1970
     Himes – A Tribute to Two Great Pilots – 1970 Those of us who graduated from West Point, but entered the US Air Force for our service, gained a different […]
  • A Warrior Remembered 1971
    In recognition of Memorial Day, I reviewed the list of fallen classmates we lost in Vietnam. While many of the names I recognized and can say that I knew several […]
  • A-Man, 9/11 and George Marshall – 2001
    It was my honor to serve on President George W. Bush’s team 2001-2009 as Principal Deputy and Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations and Environment).  The first two years […]
  • Adventure With Clickaroo – 2014
    To commemorate the 200th story published by thedaysforward.com, we present the story of how it all began. It was in December 2013 that the idea of thedaysforward was born on […]
  • Adventures of a Firefighter – 1974 – 2007
         Fort Lewis, WA was my next assignment after returning from Vietnam in 1973. It was at Fort Lewis that preparation for a second career began.  I joined the local […]
  • Air War
        My path into USAF from West Point was due to my dad. Army policy at the time allowed graduating cadets to be commissioned in another DoD branch if they […]
  • An Adventure in the “Socialist Paradise” – 1990
    In 1990, as an exchange officer serving in the State Department, I was involved in arms control negotiations and treaty compliance issues between our country and the Soviet Union.  One […]
  • An Engineer’s Dream Trip – 1978
         In the fall during the late 70s, I was assigned to the Corps of Engineers Pacific Ocean Division headquartered at Ft Shafter in Hawaii.  It was a great job […]
  • Army-Navy from Georgia 1969
    Mike and I met in 1962 (I was 15) while I was vacationing in his summer home of Red River, New Mexico, a small mountain village where Mike worked during […]
  • At Normandy with President Reagan 1984
    By Colonel Eric Robyn, Aide to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, 1983-1985 As Aide to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), 1983-1985, I was privileged to accompany General Bernard Rogers […]
  • Beast Barracks Ticket to Moscow – 1991
    By Jim Russell, Beast Barracks Ticket to Moscow One of the few opportunities we new cadets had to choose among options during Beast Barracks, the first grueling weeks at West […]
  • Best Battery Competition 1973-74
    By Suzanne Rice, wife of COL Bill Rice, 1-15 Field Artillery, Camp Stanley, Korea Best Battery Competition – 1973Twice each year the Second Infantry Division Artillery held the DivArty Stakes. In […]
  • Birth of the Night Stalkers – 1980
    Birth of the Night Stalkers Back in January 1980, Ol’ Weird was newly arrived for his third tour at Fort Bragg, fresh from Foreign Area Officer work in 17 Latin […]
  • Bob Hope – 1970
    The kick-off for the Bob Hope USO tour in 1970 was at West Point on December 15.  Since my dad was the Dean of the Academic board, one of three […]
  • Bomber Stories Over Vietnam
    “This is the Sign of the True Professional – To March to the Sound of the guns.” For those of you who have not looked in a while, this is […]
  • Brass in the Tower 1987-94
    One of the things I turned out to be pretty good at during high school was music. I could always find the right pitches in church songs, and jazz and […]
  • Bridge Over the River Kwai – 1997
    This is a story about when we were in Thailand. It was in 1997 and I was the Westinghouse Country Manager in Bangkok. My wife, Susan, convinced me it would […]
  • Brush With History 1981
    I met my sister bright and early at 8 a.m. at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport for our first ever Sister’s Week in Georgia. She left Southern Illinois, her husband and […]
  • CAPS – Detecting and Defeating Foreign WMD Threats 1992-2008
    In the late 1980s the Cold War seemed to be coming to an end, and my work as a nuclear weapons designer was about to lose a lot of significance. […]
  • Caring for Army Families – 2001
    When I arrived in the Pentagon in June 2001, one of our biggest challenges was dealing with the Army’s old, deteriorating and insufficient number of on-post family housing units. One […]
  • Challenger Investigation Commission – 1986
         In January 1986 I was an Army major serving as the Military Assistant to the Principal Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs in the Office of Management […]
  • Change of Command on Freedom’s Frontier, Korea 1974
    By Suzanne Rice, wife of COL Bill Rice, 1-15 Field Artillery, Camp Stanley, Korea Most people think that a big bureaucracy like the U.S. Army, one of the largest organizations in […]
  • Chicken Coop – 1979
    Miller, Chicken Coop – 1979 Interested in the prequel? The War That Never Happened (https://thedaysforward.com/the-war-that-didnt-happen-1979/) explains the background for my assignment as the US exchange officer to the Mexican National […]
  • Christmas in Korea – 1973
    How to celebrate Christmas in a non-Christian country? Because I had showed up in South Korea unauthorized with only a suitcase of clothes https://thedaysforward.com/second-infantry-division-education-program-1973/, there were few options for decorations […]
  • Class Rank Matters – 1975
    Jim Bachta was our perennial Brigade Boxing Champ at 132 lbs1.  He graduated 189th in our class.  I was 35 files behind him at 224.2 We both branched Armor.  Luck […]
  • Combat Related Special Compensation – 2021
         A number of my classmates and I have diseases related to exposure to Agent Orange* in Viet Nam.  I urge those who were wounded and those have those diseases […]
  • Country – A View from Abroad – 1975
          The University of Bonn had the reputation, among West German universities in the mid-1970’s, of being relatively conservative and orderly.  However, when I was privileged to study there beginning […]
  • Country – My Friend Ed – 2010
    \      I, like my WP ’69 classmates, have had the good fortune during my military and civilian careers to have met some really remarkable individuals along the way. For […]
  • Country – Reflections
         In keeping with this site’s call for reflective articles on the meaning of West Point’s motto to us over the years, I offer this impression on the third, and […]
  • Court Martial – 1972
    When I was the Company Commander of an Engineer Company at Fort Benning, Georgia from January 1972 to March 1973, I had several drug pushers and other malcontents.  Once I […]
  • Crossing Cultures – 1976
    By Claudia Clark, WIFE OF LTC PHIL CLARK While Phil was fighting a war in Vietnam, I was demonstrating against that war in Germany.  The general opinion in Germany of the […]
  • Decoys – 1974
        I served in Korea in 1974-75 as the Battalion Signal Officer for the 1st Battalion 31st Field Artillery, an Honest John Rocket Battalion located at Camp Stanley, Ui Jong […]
  • Defining Moment 1972
    A defining moment of my life came while I was a Company Commander at Ft. Benning, GA, in 1972. After about four months in command, I looked around one day […]
  • Destination Alaska – 1970
    I didn’t meet Harold Lee Maxson (called Tub) until he was close to the end of his years at West Point. Tub and I would have been married 50 years […]
  • Dinner with Friends – 1970’s
         Many American military posts might be considered remote to some who live in the large metropolitan areas of the U.S. Those who have been assigned to foreign countries often […]
  • Duty – In Gratitude for Chaplains – 2001
         Over the course of my life as an “army brat,” a soldier and a retiree I have been well served by military chaplains representing a wide array of backgrounds, […]
  • Duty and The Deadline Report – 1970
         In June 1970, ten weeks into my first assignment and three weeks after making first lieutenant, I assumed command of B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, in Schweinfurt. 3/7 […]
  • Duty, Honor, Country – Through the Years with Coach K
    My first experience with Mike Krzyzewski was as a Company mate the first two years, before I was shuttled off to a new Company.  The first plebe year re-sectioning for […]
  • Duty, Honor, Country – Coach K – 1975-2021
         By Pete Grimm As a class we were all proud to see Mike tapped to coach Army and, for what seems now only a moment, sorry to see him […]
  • Duty, Honor, Country – Motto Lived – 1971
    Author’s note:  I shared this story about Barry McGee with my A-2 mates at a recent reunion. Several advocated that I should share this anecdote with the Class.      Most […]
  • Duty: Rwanda – 1994
    McDonough, DUTY:  RWANDA 1994      I had been granted the opportunity to command at brigade level late in my career, something I had aspired to for some time.  But it […]
  • Executive Office of the President – 2001
    Where were you when…? September 11, 2001 started as a beautiful fall day in Washington, DC. I was the Program Manager for the IT support contract for the Executive Office […]
  • FB Rifle – Work Continues – 1971
    On Fire Base Rifle and along its access road work continued at a fair pace.       As time went on, we started to find some explosives along the road during […]
  • FB Rifle Rebuild – 1971
    In early April or so, I took on new mission.   We were to enter a “new” AO (area of operations), reopen a road and build a first-class permanent firebase for […]
  • Field Force Chuckles – 2021
    Each state has a “West Point Field Force” of volunteer grads and parents who help young candidates assess whether West Point is a fit for them and assist the Congressional […]
  • Fighting Fires – Yellowstone National Park 1988
    By Suzanne Rice wife of COL Bill Rice, 1-84 Field Artillery, Ft. Lewis, Washington      Yellowstone National Park is on fire! In the 1940’s, fire, like disease, insect infestation, and weather […]
  • Finally a Combat Engineer Platoon – 1970 Part 1 of 3
    Part 1 I reported into Phu Bai and was given my platoon command.  It was a bit under strength in personnel with only a few NCOs.  My “experienced” platoon sergeant […]
  • Finally a Combat Engineer Platoon – 1970 Part 2 of 3
    Fine Dining – 1970 Fine Dining Part 2 The mess situation was pretty good if you were in the rear – two or three hot meals a day.  On a […]
  • Finally a Combat Engineer Platoon – 1970 Part 3 of 3
    The work on the hill was basically manual labor. I had a M426 bulldozer for a while, but the demand for engineer stuff was great and the Battalion Commander LTC […]
  • First Day as a Forward Observer – 1970
         March 1970 was a turbulent time of unrest and deep cultural division over the Vietnam War.  Despite the emotional and strident voices of opposition, this Field Artillery Second Lieutenant […]
  • First Digital Military Radios 2004-2007
    One software project in my software career that may be of interest was that I worked on the team at Harris RF Communications, which developed the first digital military radios […]
  • Fish Killer – 1975
    From 1972 till 1975, the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood was an experimental test bed for the US Army, trying all kinds of innovations.  The division was called TRICAP […]
  • Flying with Kay – 1975
     “Man, you should have seen the babe the Old Man picked up yesterday!” “Yeah, she was gorgeous, but she’s enlisted.  A Platoon Sergeant.  I hope he doesn’t get in trouble […]
  • Framing the Army of the Future 1995
    By Suzanne Rice, wife of COL Bill Rice, Chief of Plans and Operations, Third U. S. Army, Ft. McPherson, Georgia When General Dennis Reimer, USMA Class of 1962, was named […]
  • Freedom Bird – 1972
    Ol’ Weird arrived in Vietnam early in 1972 and served entirely in the mountainous part of II Corps, the central section of South Vietnam, mostly flying Huey helicopters in support […]
  • From Crossed Rifles to the Cross – 1975
    I was rummaging through a box of stuff recently and came across a photograph of myself dating back to my high school days. Looking at my young self-50+ years later […]
  • Gary Steele, Tight End – 2008
    On 12 October 1968, a Saturday, Army hosted Cal-Berkeley at West Point.  Rain and cold had cancelled the regular Saturday morning full-dress parade on the Plain.  The weather was not […]
  • GDP Redux – 1990
    The Cold War was a period in U.S. history that defines our generation, our Army experience and much of the collective experience of our military careers for the Class of […]
  • Getting Ready for Vietnam – 1970
    I chose Armor branch in the main because of the large number of positive Armor role models on the Academy faculty.  As I was also volunteering for a Vietnam assignment […]
  • Global Air Adventure
    In early 1971, I was a co-pilot in a global air refueling squadron that rotated crews in and out of Eastern Thailand and Fairbanks, Alaska from our home base in […]
  • God Bless the U.S.A. – 1987
         It was a pitch-black night – early morning, really, long before sunrise. 15,000 of the most patriotic, courageous soldiers in the US Army had marched to the parade ground […]
  • Guardian Angels – 1972
    Continuation of stories about flying Hueys in Vietnam during 1972.  See part 1, “Smoke”. Craziest thing I remember about “bombing” was one really windy day around March ‘72 when I […]
  • Halloween Surprises – 1983
    Getting orders to Germany in 1982 was not what we wanted, but like all dutiful Army families, we did as ordered. We settled in a very small dorf (village) on […]
  • Hey, I Could Really Use a Ride – 1971
    Timing is everything and I’m certain that West Point has ingrained that principle in the minds of all its graduates along with so many other important aspects of military life. […]
  • Honor – Encounter with the Honor Code – 2021
         During the Coronavirus pandemic, classmates from Cadet Company E4 kept in touch with monthly Zoom meetings.  During one meeting there was a discussion of the Honor Code: “A cadet […]
  • Honor – Honesty – 1973
         While I may think I have always been scrupulously honest, I must admit that I have a mischievous streak in me. That might have come from a record my […]
  • Honor On the Line – The Seventh Flimsy, 1971
    1971 … a period of extreme turbulence in the Army and American society.      I had just returned home from Vietnam.  Reunited with my wife Sally and 8-month-old son, Paul, […]
  • Honor: The Role of Honor – 2011
    Once each year during the holidays, the Societies of all the Service Academies in the Greater Kansas City area sponsor a formal dinner in Kansas City to celebrate the cadets […]
  • Honor: When Honor is Absent – 2006
                            The call from Governor Jeb Bush’s Chief of Staff came at 9 o’clock at night.  “Can you take over the Florida Correction’s Department at 6 am in the […]
  • Hooch Area Dogs – 1972
    In Vietnam where I served, every compound of American GIs had their own dogs.  These were mostly fed mess hall scraps that the troops sneaked out for their canine buddies.  […]
  • Identification Friend or Foe
    After graduating from the Air Defense Officer Advanced Course, I was assigned to a Hawk Missile Battalion in Korea. I spent the first seven months of my tour as the […]
  • In Country Part I – 1970
    By Colonel Wayne Murphy, PhD, PE, Hue, Vietnam Part I At Cam Ranh Bay we deplaned and were placed into the standard quarters in base camps.  They were plywood, metal […]
  • In Country Part II – 1970
    By Colonel Wayne Murphy, PhD, PE, Hue, Vietnam Part II The Vietnam War was mistakenly fought using draftees and soldiers with fixed individual one year tours.  Reserve units for the […]
  • In Northern Virginia – 2001
         As a Department of Defense contractor, I arrived at HQ Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) at 9:00 A.M. to sign a new contract scheduled for 9:30 A.M. – it […]
  • In the Right Place – 1991, Part 2
    Pastor Bob (the guy who let me tag along with him to Russia) and I spent Sunday getting over our jet-lag at Moscow Baptist Church, and then we took a […]
  • In the Right Place – Part 1 – 1991
    I’ve always assumed that my interest in Russia came from growing up in the Army back in the 50’s and early 60’s. I remember hiding under our school desks in […]
  • Invading Laos – 1971, Part 1
    Prelude In January 1971, the decision was made to further cripple the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) infiltration and supply to South Vietnam; I guess to follow up on the Cambodian […]
  • Invading Laos – 1971, Part 2
    FIRST DAY The next morning, we deployed around the LZ. Our small, “air mobile” earth-moving equipment, ¾ ton dump trucks, jeeps, M450 bulldozers, D5 bulldozer, and scrapers were broken down […]
  • Inventing the Mobile Command Post 1995-2002
    By Suzanne Rice, Wife of COL Bill Rice, Chief of Plans and Operations, Third U. S. Army, Ft. McPherson, Georgia While Bill was on active duty serving as the Chief […]
  • It Was July 21! – 1969
    It Was July 21!  –  1969 America’s amazing feat of landing on the moon has been celebrated for over 50 years. For most of those years, I was a busy […]
  • Keeping In Touch With A Soldier 1970-2015
    It all started with a blind date in 1970 arranged by Bill’s childhood friend who had just graduated from the USAF Academy – well, not exactly. It was really initiated […]
  • Korea, Oslo to Codsall – 1972
    Pam and I were to be married Labor Day weekend 1971 prior to my deployment to Vietnam. She was a nanny to Lieutenant Colonel Tony Spackman, the British Liaison Officer […]
  • Laos Invasion: The Following Weeks – 1971
    The main mission and reason to reoccupy Khe Sanh was to build a forward base capable of supplying the two ARVN Divisions who would cross into Laos and “cut” the […]
  • Leaving Wife and Home – 1970
    By Colonel Wayne Murphy, PhD, PE, Ft. Belvoir, Fairfax County, VA Leaving Wife and Home There are many things in a life that are difficult, and I have always resisted […]
  • Let Me Do My Job – 1996
    You’ve probably figured out by now that one thing I had to deal with as a pastor and as a chaplain were issues surrounding death and dying.  So, it was […]
  • Let’s Go Skiing – 1986
         I love skiing and look forward to a ski trip every winter. But, that wasn’t always the case. For many years, I had an intense dislike of skiing.      […]
  • Life in Germany 1972
    By Suzanne Rice wife of COL Bill Rice, 1-36 Field Artillery, Augsburg, West Germany In late August, Bill and I returned to Germany for our honeymoon following our wedding in Southern […]
  • Living in Ui Jong Bu 1973
    By Suzanne Rice, Wife of COL Bill Rice, 1-15 Field Artillery, Camp Stanley, Korea Bill was on an unaccompanied assignment in Korea in the 1-15 Field Artillery when I decided […]
  • Love At First Sight? Really? 1970
    It was the fall of 1968. The Corps had returned from summer activities – leave & cadet duty (mine was Army Orientation Training [AOT] with the 101st Airborne at Fort […]