Page 46 - A Soldiers Exposition

AN EMPTY COFFEE CUP CHANGES EVERYTHING

Upon my return from South Korea, I was assigned to a combat engineer battalion at Fort Lewis, WA.

There was no slot (position) available in my primary supply MOS. I was assigned as the battalion
administrative NCO (in my secondary SMOS).

Remember that inspection and the three-day pass and the awarding of the secondary MOS? Well, here it
was biting me right where it hurt the most.

Thanks, TOP, I really appreciate what you’ve done for me now!

I was a fish out of water; more like a dead fish on the bottom of a dry lakebed.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do, and I had no one to turn to for help.

It was not long before the battalion commander and I locked horns. He wanted me to bring him coffee
and I was not about to do it.

Insubordination is punishable by court-martial.

So, on the day he ordered me into his office I reported. He said a few chosen words and told me to get
out!

As I was leaving, he threw his empty coffee cup at me.

It missed, bounced off the wall and hit the floor unbroken. Without thought, I reached down, picked up
the cup, turned, threw it, and watched in horror as it bounced off his desk and out the window.

I knew exactly where to go and what to do. I went without hesitation to the Post Command Sergeant
Major to confess my sins. He was not my first protector, but he turned out to be my defender that day
and he set the train in motion for me to become an officer in the United States Army.

Who’d have thought it?