5th WOC, getting into high gear

The "Command Madness" found in the first week at Wolters finally came to an end when Diable showed up. We just didn't know it as it seems that we had a new boss every day and the rules, as well as the habits, were subject to change daily.

He brought an immediate change in standards with him and did so without having to do much more than just show up . Those of us at the end of the hall closest to his office were the lucky ones in that we figured it out first.

I didn't know it then but I eventually found out that our schedule was forced to a crazy level because of required class times and future class openings at Ft. Rucker. Unlike Northwestern where you may take a full load of 15 hours of college credit, spread it out over one semester and do that with a few hours of class every day, this was wide open all the time.

If you think about it a minute, a 3 hour college credit could be earned by attending a one hour long class, 3 times a week. There were no Monday, Wednesday, Friday class schedules for us. To earn 15 hours of college credit in a single semester, you could actually accomplish that in 15 hours of class every week. We were closer to 40. As a comparative analysis, we were running along at a 40 hour college credit every semester instead of 15. It would soon become the most physically and mentally demanding thing I had ever done.

It took a while for us to connect the dots that we were behind the schedule but none of us knew how far behind we were until we graduated and transferred to Ft. Rucker. It was at that time that we figured out that we were so late, we completely missed Class 70-05 at Rucker and were classified as 70-07. 

Diable, knowing that all along, never let on that he was going to attempt something that never occurrerd during his time in flight school or with any other Flight within our class. To accomplish that without killing us and losing the entire Flight, he made small changes within. It was a blessing for us and something that eventually made us the envy of the other 3 Flights within the 5th WOC.

One morning another Candidate from Flight A 2, came downstairs with a sour look on his face and asked: "How many guys in your Flight failed inspection this morning?" His question was answered with "Our Tac doesn't make us do that shit, he has us review yesterday's class and prepare for today's tests".

I think it was Fred Thompson that gave the answer because I recall the end of his statement being somewhat embellished with his last comment that said: "You mean you guys have to do inspections?"

None of  us were surprised to see the Company Commander show up the following day to personally observe one of Diable's inspections. In view of Thompson's comment, the word spread like wildfire and made it to the main office where the CO decided that he would look into it.

Somehow, Diable found out about it and when we returned from class that afternoon, we had a night time inspection, something that never happened before or since.

 Diable made it a point to show the CO the bottoms of the boots that were polished and without any pieces of stone in the sole. Needless to say, shortly thereafter, the guys in the other Flights were bitchin' about the fact that "their crazy ass tac officer" was making them inspect the bottom of their boots for rocks and also demanding that the bottoms be polished. I loved it.

As another sneak peek at Diable's method of operating, we were surprised to find him come to our class one day to do "an audit". He wanted to know what we were studying and how we were conducting ourselves in the class and how the grades were unfolding..

As another one of those discoveries that I refer to as: "We didn't know it at time", Diable had his own agenda as it related to his performance as one of four tac officers in the Company. Not only was he going to achieve the best inspection record, he was bound and determined that A1 was going to be the top Flight in the entire Company.

I can't remember how long ground school lasted but even though it seemed to take forever before we were taken to the main heliport to start flying, the day came and we were really ready.

Not all of us in our Flight would go as several were chosen to take their initial training in California where the newest methods of training students in simulators was being tested. Fred Thompson was one of them and, being a kid from California, he loved it and would simply describe it as "bitchin'".

Our Flight seemed to have a disproportionately higher number of students selected for simulator training than any other flight. We really didn't know the total numbers going but when they were readying themselves for departure and we asked guys in the other Flights, most of them didn't know anything about it.

Miles said that Diable was behind it and almost certainly had submitted forms that were given each tac officer to provide information that would allow the CO to make the final decision based on a Candidates grades, inspection grades, attitude and prior flight experience..

With all the sneaking around, coming to our classes, showing up at night and other things, the guys at the other end of the barracks started calling him "Dinky Diable" as they viewed his actions as "Dinking Around".

Miles, more than anybody else, loved it. The reason he did had to do with a number of factors including his many years of prior service.

We depended on him to keep us in the loop about things because all of us on our end of the barracks had only been in the Army long enough to make it through Boot Camp and therefore, didn't know how things worked. Miles had been around for years and years.

On our end of the hall we still focused on those Hawk Eyes he had and, as a result of that, he never really had a nick name affixed to him other than the seldom used "Shooter" or Beady Eye Bernie". This wasn't by any means, a negative name but one more closely focued on how he seemed to see everything as a target to be attacked and overcome. In the end, our end of the hall was right.

I'm going to cut this off now as it's time for me to get on with my day to day stuff. Stand by for the actual flying part of this epistle as there are stories that will spike your curiosity about many things. More coming.

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