Lessons learned in Training

Within two days they had promoted me to a Lance Bombardier and I learned that's the toughest job of all, Major Generals have it soft, cause they never do anything. They've got tons of people to do it. But the lance jack, he's living with his friends and they come to the lance jack and they say, "Get six men and pick up shovels and go down and shovel that load of sand into the.." Who do you choose? You're a lance jack, you're living with these guys, you suddenly put a stripe up, and you got to go your friends and say you, you and you. You've got, no authority, you've got no respect, you've got nothing. That's the tough job, believe you me. I, I acted as a Lieutenant Colonel at brigade, I described that in the book you know. And I lay on this big fire plan and then I sit there twiddling my fingers. That's what they do. I mean it's the simplest thing in the world to be a General. But a lance jack let me tell ya, you force a personality and necessary those things have gotta be ready. At the time I thought what kind of an idiot am I to have fallen for this. But in the end also you, you never, never take for granted the dignity and the sensitivity of people under your command. I mean you, I never put a man in charge. Now I've had people accuse me of neglecting my, my responsibility. That I was dumping the responsibility on somebody else and that may be true but, now I tore strips off people verbally you know, privately and, but I never, I never, I always I could put myself into that man's position because I'd been there, I had stood at attention.