I posted just awhile back
about catching up with leaders of the past. One of my connections was Doug
Brown (see 29 May 16 posting). Since catching up with Doug, we have talked
almost every day since.
One of our mutual associates
was another officer that served with us in Alaska, Ted Kuchta (see Fitz’s and his Spare Tire chapter in my
book: There’s a Moose in the Guard Shack).
Getting into contact with Ted came from an offhand comment from Doug. “Have you
been in contact with Ted?”
To my surprise, Doug had Ted’s
email address. I jumped on that right away.
It took a while, but finally
the other day I got a response. I was thrilled to have made another
reattachment.
Ted Kuchta
I had worked with Ted during
my Army days in Alaska. Ted came to my unit (1973) as the first school trained
POL Officer (Petroleum, Oils, and Lubricants) since my original Platoon Leader
had been relieved way back in early 1971. The Army in Alaska was pretty far
down on the priority list at this time due to the continued field exercise being conducted in
Southeast Asia. In late 1973, things had begun to ease up just a bit and we
seemed to be getting our fill of both officers and enlisted personnel.
Ted filled a need that we had had
for some time. It wasn’t that his predecessors were ineffectual or simply
caretakers while waiting his eventual arrival, not in the least. Actually, for
some time, I had been the lone officer in the platoon. The first guy assigned
to fill the shortage might have been considered a caretaker. Gary was a
Transportation Corps officer and really didn’t fit the need—or any other need
either. Gary washed out and was given a second chance leading a TC platoon, but
didn’t cut it there either. Two eithers and Gary disappeared.
Larry Wilson
Larry Wilson, a Quartermaster
Lieutenant, arrived next and was assigned to my Class II & VII Section.
Still having problems in the POL Section, I was finally able to convince the
Command that my biggest need was a petroleum officer. Short of that, I needed
an officer to fill the leadership role while I continued to oversee and monitor
the accountability role. This was a workable solution and actually allowed the
unit to prosper while waiting on given expertise.
1LT Larry Wilson (in repose)
at Eielson AFB, Fairbanks,
AK
Clifford T. White
After little over a year,
another couple of Quartermaster Lieutenants showed up. Cliff White was assigned
the position of Class II & VII Section Leader, the position that Larry had
vacated, allowing me to spend more time with Larry and his development. There’s
another face or two that lead the II & VII Section in the mean while, but
we will not go into them here—both
came from combat arms assignments and were not fully suited for the position.
Cliff had the training, he just needed the experience. Like all three, Larry,
Doug and Ted; I have searched for Cliff all over the internet looking places.
Doug Brown
Soon after Cliff’s arrival,
Doug Brown arrived. (See Catching up
with Leaders of the Past posting just prior to this posting). All of a
sudden, I had almost a full complement of officers filling positions within my
platoon. The only shortage that existed—as
it had from the day I arrived—was
an Ammunition Warrant Officer. That was soon resolved by a Warrant being
assigned to my senior ammunition NCO—finally
not just full strength, but over strength. Doug was extra.
As it worked out, Larry was
able to seek out a position in the Battalion Operations Staff Section and that
opened the way for Doug to take over the POL Section. This worked out just fine
for the period of time that Doug filled the position. Remember, Doug had come
from Officer Candidate School (OCS) and other than his enlisted general supply
experience, he had no POL experience; just like Larry.
SGT Garcia and 2LT Doug Brown
atop 10,000 gallons of jet
fuel, Ft Greely, AK
Ted Kuchta (again)
Not very long after Ted’s
arrival, the Truck Platoon Leader departed and Doug volunteered to take the
position, thereby allowing Ted to put his training to full use in my POL
Section. Immediately, we had Ted in the field on short duration exercises
getting the experience that he needed. One of Ted’s first several exercises
actually took him to Fort Yukon, Alaska—just
inside the Arctic Circle—a
real stroke of luck for a new Second Lieutenant.
Not long thereafter, we found ourselves in February, 1974 at
Fort Greely, Alaska in a major field exercise and Ted was really getting his
indoctrination in Arctic POL Support functionality. He performed very well, I
am proud to say. Ted had all the attributes to become a fine Army Officer. I
have since learned from Ted that he served 22 years in the Army and is in sales
now.
172nd
Support Battalion Officers
Doug Brown, 4th
from right, front row standing
Ted Kuchta, 3rd
from right, front row standing
Larry Wilson, 5th
from left, front row standing
Cliff White, 3rd
from left, front row standing
John Howard
Hatfield, 3rd from right, back row standing
Wrap up
Everybody mentioned above
(excluding Gary) possessed leadership ability and I would be proud to stand
alongside any one of them when a time of need for such requirements existed.
They proved their worth under some extreme circumstances that can be matched by
few others.
