TAC Stories

I remember being invited to my Tactical Officer's (Second Lieutenant Dick Pera's) office one day and asked to take a seat. Of course I knew he didn't mean sit down, but rather back up to a wall and bend my knees as though there was a chair underneath me (which there wasn't). Second Lieutenant Pera went on to question me for some time while I was in this position. He must have known it was difficult for me as my legs began to shake as I was answering his questions. Notwithstanding my discomfort, I knew 2LT Pera was merely evaluating my ability to react to a given situation under stress. I always respected him as an exceptional leader and was sorry to learn many years ago that he is no longer with us. Submitted by: Richard Burke McCurdo, Jr., 1967

The day before Thanksgiving 1966, I was designated to be the platoon leader for 4th platoon. We were all wearing Class A uniforms for the traditional turkey dinner. Those few who had wives and families living off post were permitted to have them join us. As junior candidates, the company commander gave us post privileges for the afternoon. My tactical officer directed me to report to his office where he proceeded to inform me that he was recinding post privileges and ordered me to order the platoon to fall out in fatigue uniforms to perform quarters maintenance, followed by a study period. He asked me if I thought his order was unreasonable. I said we would be the only platoon out of six denied the privileges of the holiday. He gave me his rationale. He had 23 weeks to prepare us for combat in Vietnam and his orders were an object lesson that in war, duty came before holiday privileges because the enemy was on duty on Thanksgiving, Christmas and the 4th of July to attack us. Was I disappointed? Of course I was. I had to give a difficult order to the platoon that was on the verge of enjoying themselves, but that too was an object lesson—officers are tasked with issuing difficult orders. Submitted by Martin Milco, 1967

I was a good runner, but there were about 10 or so Soldiers in my company that ran faster than I did. When we had our first PT test (after the first 4 or 5 days) at OCS we lost well over 20 candidates. I was assigned to the "Fast Runner Group." We had a TAC Officer who was a very fast runner. The fast group suddenly bolted off during the morning's PT session and I kept asking myself 'when are they going to slow down from this sprint?' They NEVER SLOWED DOWN! We were in optimal shape after OCS - mind, body, spirit, and we were motivated. Submitted by Jon Earl Lopey, Sr., 1980

In 5th Platoon, we kept failing our Friday Barracks Inspection, so when I became the platoon sergeant I organized the cleanup into specific functions and assigned platoon personnel to inspect only selected items, i.e. one candidate would inspect the spacing between hangars, another would ensure items in the draw looked like they were being used (toothpaste for example) and that all items were properly spaced. We still failed and when I questioned First Lieutenant Hogan, he took a Diamond match box from his drawer, showed me a dead water bug and said we had an unauthorized pet in the barracks.