Officer Retention

[Ken White]

at every Hq above bde; noticing insignia. Really, excessively noting insignia...

we were ordered to wear it all, since it would prevent weird looks and questions if any of us staff guys had to go to Div HQ.

I had a friend, well traveled, lot of schools, German, Canadian and Viet Namese parachute wings, lot of combat time, been a medic in Korea and and infantryman in Viet Nam, whose favorite game was to wear different stuff to every meeting at Div. Most people noticed but were too polite to say anything, Every now and then, someone would question. Shame I couldn't have sold popcorn on those days...

[Schmedlap]

I remember a retired NCO who worked at my old military school. 4 tours in Vietnam with Ranger Companies and SF units. When he wore ribbons (the "special" days when it was required), he only wore his valor awards and purple hearts - two rows, full of clusters, V's, and other knick-knacks. That guy had some amazing stories, if you could get him to stop talking about coon hunting or bass fishing for more than 2 minutes.

[patmc]

I had a friend, well traveled, lot of schools, German, Canadian and Viet Namese parachute wings...

Nothing stops traffic like a pair of Irish Airborne wings. Trying to understand "outboard personnel, stand up" in Gaelic... that's Army strong.

(during pre-jump, they gave the commands in English, until a Jumpmaster asked them to do it in Gaelic. Their response was basically, ok, but why, we speak English?)