RUSSIANS SWEEP INTO BESSARABIA; NAZIS HIT BACK ON CASSINO’S RIM (3/20/44)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 3/20/44 | W.H. Lawrence, C.L. Sulzberger, Gene Currivan, Frank L. Kluckhohn, Hanson W. Baldwin

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[centurion316]

Sobel had a very tragic life. He tried to commit suicide in the 60’s but only managed to sever both of his optic nerves. Blinded, he spent the rest of his life in a VA assisted living center.

[Jacquerie]

Great tribute. Anti-Submarine warfare was unglamorous but absolutely necessary to save Great Britain. Thank Hitler for starting the war with only a few dozen U-Boats.

[colorado tanker]

My experience is the troops will follow if they feel the leadership is competent. The hardest thing for a junior officer to do is quickly master the skills needed to be a soldier in that unit and do them as well or better than the young troops. If you're lucky and have the right attitude, a seasoned NCO will help you do it.

The troops personally despised Patton as a martinet, but would follow him anywhere because they knew he was the best field army commander in the Army.

Sobel was a tough trainer, but with his mapreading skills, he would have gotten people killed. And they knew it.

The problem is the Army is growing so fast that the officers are 90 day wonders and clueless about what they're doing. The experienced NCO corps is spread so thin that often young officers are paired with NCO's that have little more experience than they do. The natural leaders intuitively know there is a zone between being a martinet and getting too close to the men, and that's where they live.

[TADSLOS]

Agreed. Seems like we see this recycle during every major conflict. Remember shake and bake NCOs during Vietnam? I was very lucky as a young Infantry butter bar post Vietnam assigned to an Infantry Battalion with only a handful of seasoned NCOs on hand. My PSG and two of my E-6 squad leaders being among them. Both of those squad leaders were fresh from assignment with the 1st Ranger Battalion. My PSG had multiple combat tours in Vietnam under his belt. I was extremely fortunate and my education level as a young officer benefited immensely. Some of my peers had junior E5s as PSGs and E-4s with less than 2 years service as squad leaders. That’s what Carter’s post Vietnam Army looked like. We were broke in so many ways.

[colorado tanker]

Never got to Vietnam, but I was in the Jimmy Carter Army. What a mess. Our tanks were worn out, but every time we got close to turning them in they were extended 1,000 miles. Short on people, parts, everything.

The NCO corps was slowing re-establishing itself after what happened in Vietnam. By the end of the seventies a lot of the damage had been undone. I was lucky too and worked with some damn fine NCO's.

[TADSLOS]

I remember signing for firing pins when we signed out our weapons from the arms room. Same for radio batteries. All of our rolling stock was dogged out, beat up leftovers from Vietnam. If we rolled out the gate to the field with 70% of our people and equipment, it was a good day. Battalions took turns borrowing each others’ soldiers and equipment to conduct their annual ARTEPs. We were damned glad when Reagan became President, although it took several years before we saw real changes in equipment, training, etc...