I had spent, basically, the calendar year of '71 in Vietnam, on my second tour. With orders back to the HQ, DA (Dept of the Army), area of northern Virginia, Barbara & I started the drive east in the 1966 Porsche 912 which Barbara had encouraged me to buy after my safe return from 1st tour, Vietnam. (During some frustrating moments as a faculty member at "Uncle Ben's Rest Home," I used to take it out onto the Indianapolis beltway, and "blow out the carbon.")
After a visit to home (Florence, OR), we started driving east in Jan/Feb '72. We were a ways east of Bend, OR, one evening as it was getting dark, and the car took a sudden "jolt" - as though someone had thrown an anchor out. At the same time, copper filings came flying out the air vents. As it turns out, we had "blown" an alternator. The next day, after getting the problem fixed in Bend, we continued east. Somewhere in eastern Oregon, or Idaho, we started to smell gasoline. It seemed to be coming from the heating vents which were about floor level of that car. Since we were in the "boondocks," I stopped at the next town which had a hardware store and bought some sheet plastic and duct tape. I fabricated, more or less, a "lap robe"out of this (to keep the fumes below it), and we breathed fresh air from the wind wings while we limped into Denver (where we stayed with friends & had the car fixed - leaking fuel line).
Arriving in northern Virginia, we stayed with previous acquaintances from Ft. Harrison for a couple of days and then moved into the Wagon Wheel Motel, on Rt. 1, south of the beltway, while waiting to close on the little Rancher we had bought a couple of blocks away. I went to work. Barbara started "Mainlining"Snickers Bars. We ate a lot of (fast) junk food.
My duty assignment was as a personnel staff officer in the Army's newly formed Criminal Investigation Command (a Major command equal to all others). (Kind of like the Secretary of the Army's bulldog,these days, pit bull, on a short leash.) Our duty location was in the WWII "temporary" buildings next to Ft. McNair at the junction of the Potomac & Anacostia rivers. One day while driving to (or from) work, I stopped to talk to some kids who were throwing pieces of glass under passing cars (like we used to "skip" rocks). I don't remember the result....maybe a mistake?
About a year later, I was selected to attend graduate school at GWU in the District. (Remember, Sue,"Eat the lion....") I was, maybe, one of only a few full-time Army guys there, and pretty much had my pick of course of instruction. It was to be an MA in Education (Recreation Management?), but I actually made it into a management science major, with an emphasis on behavioral science. (On the rare occasion when I share with my friends that I'm a Masters level trained psychologist [WOP - without practicum], some get a little nervous.
Remember,Sue"Eat the lion....."! From the masters program, I was selected for Leavenworth ( the school, not the prison). I attended the Command & General Staff College for 9 months and then was sent to Germany for three years.
From Germany, I came back to the DC area for four years, and then retired! That's it!!
No more!! I'll respond only to questions!
Respectfully,
jl
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