4

LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

In May 1978, the Army promoted me to first lieutenant. It was amazing how the change from a gold bar to a silver bar (in the military, gold is lower than silver because gold represents the ground and silver the stars) led soldiers to show respect.

Napoleon said, “An army marches on its stomach,” meaning soldiers need to be fed and housed to be effective. As an executive officer for a headquarters company responsible for feeding, training, and housing several hundred soldiers, I can attest to the truth of this statement. I handled all the reports for the military intelligence brigade regarding personnel, vehicles, and weapons. In other words, I was responsible for the often thankless job of keeping soldiers fed, warm, and ...

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