This week, I reconnected with a dear friend from the Army days. We were so close that to this day we still refer to ourselves as "twin sons of different mothers." We looked enough alike, that we used to prank our battalion commander by attending weekly staff meetings wearing each other's name-tagged shirts. Both captains, both battery commanders, both wearing battle dress uniforms ... it's a wonder the boss didn't prank us.
During our conversation, Frank and I discussed old times and the topic of the change of command ceremony came up. I asked him to summarize the event from his perspective. Without collusion, our recollections of the event were amazingly similar. So, with Frank's permission I offer up his description of the event -- proof that my original article,
Pass in Review, was absolutely true.
The Story of the Flying Half Section
- The date: 1983
- The place: Kelley Hill parade field, beautiful Fort Benning, Georgia.
- The event: 2nd Battalion, 10th Field Artillery change of command ceremony between LTC Rich Entlich and LTC Rex Fore.
- The setup: Someone (Jim Patrie?) decides to include a field artillery half section in the ceremony, including the pass in review.
- The problem: There is no trained field artillery half section at Fort Benning!
From Frank's perspective:So there I am, standing at the podium facing the parade field, ready to narrate the change of command ceremony. It's a beautiful sunny day -- perfect weather. We have been through a week of rehearsals and everything seems to be going fine including the rather brief training of the ersatz half section, the horses for which have been "borrowed" for the occasion from the riding stables at Fort Benning. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The battalion's five batteries, the battalion staff, the Commander of Troops (Major Jim Patrie), the band and the half section are lined up on the parade field on the ready line waiting for the ceremony to begin. Suddenly, the individual in charge of the half section appears at my elbow. I experience a moment of panic as I realize he should be on the parade field. He says: "I have to move the half section. All the noise and commotion from the crowd and the band is spooking the horses."
I can't remember exactly what I said to him. I probably told him to do whatever he had to do to fix it. A few minutes later, I notice that the half section is missing from the parade field. They were positioned on the far RIGHT of the line of troops as you face the parade field from the reviewing stand; now they are nowhere to be seen. Then I see the half section commander sticking his head out of the line of trees to the extreme LEFT and behind the line of troops. He has moved the half section inside the tree line and out of sight.
I'm now in a quandary. There is no way to advise the Commander of Troops what has happened since he and the staff are already out on the parade field. My only choice is to carry on the best I can and hope for the best.
The ceremony goes off without a hitch. Now it is time for the pass in review, the last event that occurs in ceremonies like this one. LTC Fore gives the order: PASS IN REVIEW. Major Patrie faces about and commands: "HALF SECTION IN REVIEW." (The intent was for the half section to pass in review first and alone, then the rest of the battalion would follow.) I later learned that he certainly did NOT know where the half section was at this time, and muttered under his breath to the staff, "Where is that @#$%&* half section?!?"
The half section commander hears the command for him to pass in review and vanishes inside the tree line to mount his horse. Major Patrie, not seeing anything happen and not seeing any sign of the half section, has no choice but to give the next command to the entire battalion: "PASS IN REVIEW."
Several things then happen all at once. Major Patrie faces about, commands the battalion staff "RIGHT TURN MARCH"; they start moving across the parade field to assume their position in the line of march in front of the band. The band master commands the band, "FORWARD MARCH." The Headquarters and Headquarters Battery Commander commands his battery, "RIGHT TURN, MARCH" to fall in behind the band.
Suddenly without warning the half section bursts out of the tree line at a gallop. It is now a race to see who will make the turn first to march in front of the reviewing stand: the half section, the band, or the battalion staff! Disaster looms. The narrator wants to crawl in a hole and pull the cover over his head.
The half section makes it to the turn just in time and races past the battalion staff. The half section commander manages to slow the horses down to a brisk walk as they approach the reviewing stand. I begin narrating the part of the script relating to the half section. My voice booms out of the speakers, frightening the horses again, as they are right in front of the speakers. They buck in the traces a bit, but settle down enough to complete the pass in review without further incident. I later heard that someone's wife in the crowd asked, "How did they get them all moving at the same time?" (The only other hitch occurs when I unintentionally mispronounce one of the battery commander's names. His wife gave a look that would have curdled new milk.)
As if that isn't enough...fast forward two years.
It's now time for LTC Fore to relinquish command to LTC Bobby Rich. Major Dennis Radnoti, the battalion XO, is determined that we will have a half section participate and pass in review again. He goes to the stables at Fort Benning, only to learn that there is no way they will loan us any horses. Seems that the horses returned to the stables in a high state of excitement two years ago and they will no longer have anything to do with us.
Major Radnoti scrounges some horses from a horse owner somewhere near Fort Benning. We start rehearsals. Many of us remember the last half section debacle and are quite eager to see what will happen this time.
At the full dress rehearsal, as the half section was led onto the parade field by their commander the two horses pulling the caisson and cannon get it in their minds that this would be a good time to break into a gallop. They gallop onto the parade field at high speed, with the commander in hot pursuit on his own horse and the caisson and cannon bouncing merrily behind. One of the soldiers riding a horse was thrown, but not injured. Only the interference of a small grove of pine trees at the back of the parade field stopped them. They galloped into the trees and halted because they couldn't proceed any further. To add insult to injury, the trees were thick enough that they couldn't be turned around. They had to be unhitched from the traces, led back out to the parade field individually and then hitched up again. The caisson and cannon were manhandled out of the trees and back onto the field.
The sight of the half section flying across the parade field brought back too many memories. I laughed so hard I almost had to sit down on the ground to recover.
Editor's Note: Thanks, Frank
