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 English class was alphabetical by last name. There were “J” and “K” names in my section. The instructor wanted to make sure he said everyone’s…
Continue Reading Duty, Honor, Country – Through the Years with Coach K
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 perhaps most profound, word of the three, ‘Country’. Previously I wrote one on ‘Duty’ and then one on ‘Honor’, citing the unexpected (at least when…
Rat Patrol, Part 2 – 1971
My own stark and dramatic introduction to the overwhelming rat infestation on Vietnam’s firebases occurred, somewhat ironically, during the Chinese “Year of the Rat” – 1972. In January 1972 I took command of C Battery, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Battalion (105mm M102 howitzers) on Fire Support Base (FSB) Maude, aka Hill 350, about…
Rat Patrol, Part 1 – 1971
Every single night, the enemy attacked our remote firebase in Vietnam in continuous, relentless waves. Fearlessly pressing forward while totally oblivious to their own casualties, they kept on coming. No matter how many of them we killed, more appeared to take their places and join the attacks. These nightly assaults erupted on all sides…
Some Real Storm Troopers – 1973
In February 1973 after my Vietnam tour, I was in command of a company at Fort Bragg, North Carolina – B Company 27th Engineers (Combat) (Airborne). It was a dream job and my unit had almost all volunteers – few draftees – as the war in Vietnam drew down. We had very light weight engineer…
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 go to Duke. I recall one classmate saying if our dear Alma Mater had paid and quartered Mike like the great basketball coach he was…