Pictures of REFORGER 1978

Below are some images I rook during REFORGER 1978.

 

These were also published in Army Aviation Magazine.

REFORGER 1978 Back in 3rd CAB Country

The A Troop, 2/17th Cavalry came to Germany and went to work on getting their aircraft ready for tactical deployment in Gibelstadt.

From here, I sent a photo story to Stars and Stripes about a soldier by the name of Wertheim who wanted to go to Wertheim, Germany. I was published two days later.

"Just like the old days, SGT Edwards, " remarked the editor of Stars and Stripes. Yeah, I was back.

My CO had purchased $20 worth of slide film. He didn't know it, but it was about to become $20 worth of Official Army slide film.

So, we're breaking down our staging area, someone yelled Atren Hut, followed by an at ease and a question, "Is there a Sergeant Edwards in here?"

And I'm thinking, Okay, how much trouble can you get into just writing a single story about a soldier going to Wertheim?

"Yes, sir."

"Go report to General Brown."

"Really????"

So I walked up to this 1 star, saluted him. And he asked, "Do you have film in that Camera?"

I'm thinking, no, I just run around with a camera on my shoulder,  did MG John M, Brandenburg coach you to say this, cause that's  what he used ask me.

"Yes sir, I do."

"Good because you are now the official Task Force 229th photographer.  The original one got his leg crushed between a tractor and a trailer."

"Any questions."

"Yes, sir, just one. My CO purchased the color slide film."

He got a bit testy, "You tell that major that if he has any trouble with this to come talk to me."

"Yes, sir," I said, saluted, did an about face and walked a way.  There was a slight grin on my face.
Okay, it might have been a bit devious, too.

"He said what?" asked my CO trying to figure out what just happened as his fellow officers proceeded to laugh hysterically.

"And he told me that if you have a problem with it to go talk to him".

"Well, I'm not going to do that. Okay, go do your thing. If you need any help, let me know."

The coolest thing I've ever done in my life was to go out with the Blue Platoon, drop off the motorcycles and land in a designated pick up spot.

Only one big problem. The pickup spot just down the road from a battalion of our opposing forces tanks who were working their way down a thick tree lined back road.

We could hear them but couldn't see them.

"Sir, I don't think this was a good place to land,"

"What do you mean? "

"Well, since I don't think it's an earthquake, I suspect that we've got a lot of tanks around us.

"I'm going to check it out. If I do the haul butt, hand sign, we've got to go."

So, walked up to the corner and just out of sight of the UH-1H were a lot of turrets and a single E-6 in front walking them down the hill.

I walked up to him and asked if I could take his picture and told him I was part of the press corps and doing a story for EurArmy Magazine.

"Are you sure you're not the enemy."

"Being part of the press corp makes me neither friend or foe, Sergeant, you ought to know that."

And then I pulled out my notepad and started asking the usual who, what, when where and why.

I got his name, thanked him and walked away.

Once I got out of site, I did the haul ass hand sign and by the time I got into the chopper, we we pulling pitch and gaining altitude over the tree line.

Unfortunately, a Referee in a jeep saw us and we were forced to land.

Well, I almost pulled it off and I got to admit, it was fun playing a spy:)

As for my photography work:

MG John M. Brandenburg sent me a letter of appreciation and I got reassigned to Division Support Command in an E-7 slot.

Images Of REFORGER 1977

Below are some images I took during REFORGER 1977:

 

These images were published in Army Aviation Magazine.

John Muchael Coleman

John Michael Coleman, Editor of EurArmy Magazine, became an unstoppable force with John accepting almost every article I wrote. In fact, he took one of my articles over to Soldiers Magazine and it was accepted.

Within 9 months, over 30 articles were accepted by EurArmy Magazine and 2 by Soldiers, 5 photo-features in Frontline and in Pillar and Post, and Army Aviation Magazine ran 2 two page spreads.

The key here was that the images attracted attention of the press and my writing skills were improving in leaps and bounds.

Images of REFORGER 1976

For years now, I've been wanting to prove the fact that the below images were taken by me.

These were published in Army Aviation Digest in December 1976:

 

The images below were published in Army Aviation Magazine:

 While barely readable, the page above this one says, "All REFORGER 76 images were taken by SP5 Richard T. Edwards."

I rest my case.

My VIP Flight in a T-39

I know this is going to sound a bit crazy, but it did happen and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I have a younger brother who was stationed at Ramstien AFB in Landstuhl, Germany.  He was working with the VIP Jets and apparently had enough clout to pull this one off.

Below is an image of a North American Rockwell  T-39.






So, when was down in Landstuhl, Germany visiting him when he asked me if I wanted to go to Oslo, Norway. Of course I said yes. So, we set up a date and time.  That was the easy part.

The hard part was to convince anyone on the Army side of this flight of fantasy that, in fact, I wasn't a prime candidate for the loonie bin and approve the trip. As it turned out, I did get approval and I told my brother I had been given permission.

My brother was notorious for pulling pranks on my for most of my entire life, so you can imagine me being a bit anxious and feeling a bit embarrassed when the time for the plane's arrival passed.

So I asked our operations people if there was an Air Force get scheduled to arrive here at Harvey Barracks and they told me they didn't see one. There was, of course, this look at me that I was a certified stir fry crazy.

So, I waited for another 20 minutes and was about to go grab some breakfast when operations told me the T-39 was about to land.  They also told me to meet it out on the runway. Which I did and the only two people in the cabin was me and my brother.

We picked up an Air Force One star General at Heatherow in England.

As we were climbing altitude, I head a loud bang followed by the engines going to flight idle and a deep dive.  We went from 30,000 to 10,000 feet in seconds.  While I was able to get my ears to adjust to the quick change in altitude, the General not so lucky.

Like his rather, my brother chewed a lot of gum. I waited for about 5 seconds, looked at him and told him to give the General a piece of gum. I don't think my brother was too happy with me.

While he did try to tell me that I might have to wait for a return flight home, I think my looks and body language told him that wasn't going to happen.

As it turned out the line for pressurizing the cabin broke and once that was fixed,  we flew into Oslo along the Fords.

My impression of Oslo and the Fords was what in the world was wrong with my Great Grand Father's mind. And why did he change his name from Edward Steen to Steen Edwards. Colorful, picturesque and more importantly the people there were dressed in bright colors and were having a good time.

I was breathing in my roots and the sensations were as good as an emotional high can get. I didn't want to leave. But the threat of being AWOL sent me back into that T-39.

Four hours later, we touched down at Harvey Barracks.

In a really weird kind of way, I was glad to be back.


   

 





    



 

Tear sheets from Army Aviation Association of America

Supporting the 101st during REFORGER 1976

Author's Notes: Okay, while this isn't exactly about the 4/77th in Vietnam, it is about the 4/77th in Germany during REFORGER 76. It is also about me, the images I took and the changes in the 4/77th's mission and purpose.

Also, my apologies.  I posted this a bit prematurely. the part below from my perspective. The actual story about the 4/77th is located here: http://www.rucker.army.mil/avjournal/1970/1976/.

Click on the link to: AVN_DIG_1976_12.pdf.  You will need a PDF reader. The cover, inside cover images and many of the images inside this issue were taken by me. Although I didn't get credit for them, in that specific publication, some of the same images landed in Aviation Magazine and I am given credit for taking them.








If you don't want to read all the great things the 4/77th did that year, please read: Vietnam To Europe, The 4th Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Lives On! article.

During REFORGER 76 the 101st sent tanks back to the stone age.



REFORGER 1976

Sometimes, what appears to be a bad turn in one's military career actually turns out to be the one thing needed to make the rest of the chain events the formula for success.

January, 1976:

The 3rd Combat Aviation Battalion(3rd CAB) is my new home.  I have been here for three months and I am faced with the very real fact that because of my vision problems, I can no longer hold the MOS of 67Y20 -- Cobra Crewchief. That the military could issue me an MOS of a cook and I would have to live with that for the next four years was an unbearable reality.

Totally unacceptable. 

My options were to either accept fate or leave the military under a breach of contract.

I decided that I wanted to let the cards fall where they would and requested command sponsorship.

I also received an Army Accommodation Medal and a Commander's Certificate from the 101st Airborne Division(Air Assault) for my work as a writer and photographer.

Around January 10, 1976, my wife shows up.

One day later, her brother dies.

We fly from Frankfurt to McGuire AFB.  Because we're too late for the funeral and because her family told us not to come all the way down to Louisiana, we staid at my mothers home at 250 S. Church Street in Moorestown, NJ and for 30 days we staid there.

Some images were taken of the Bi-Centennial area over in Philadelphia, PA.

The walk across the Ben Franklin Bridge was interesting. 

Having my wife come down with the Legionnaires' Disease was not.

February, 1976:

By the way, if you've never been on a long flight via one of the Air Force hops, there are no bathrooms. If you have to pee or poop, you do it in a bag.

They also supply you with disposable ear plugs that look more like two pieces of cheap round chewing gum. At first, being larger than the ear, it appeared impossible to use until one of the Air Force crew members showed us how to use them and they worked just fine.

After flying back the way we came, we stay over night on the military side of the Frankfurt Airport. Wife bunked with the ladies.  I bunked with the guys. 

Once back at Harvey Barracks, Kitzingen, Germany, my focus was on getting the Battalion's Public Information System on line and working as it should for an IG Inspection. The wife went to work on finding us a place to live on the economy. The Hotel Garni worked as a staging area.

This is where the world from my perspective turned cold and cruel. Or that's what it appeared.

March, 1976:

According to the IG Inspection, my MOS 67Y20, was mission critical and the job I was doing at Battalion level was not needed. Also, my TA 50 gear that was supposed to come with me over to Germany was stolen. I had documents to prove it.

Despite my explanations on this matter, my CO did not care and served me with two Article 15s.

The second one came with a new job assignment: work at the front gate as NCO of Front Gate Guards.

As it so happens, that the Aid De Camp for the 1 Star General residing at the Harvey Barracks Kaserne saw me, wanted to know what I was doing in my new lofty position. I told him and he responded with:  "That's going to change."

And it did....but not exactly the way I thought it would.

April, 1976:

I am handed the keys to the Harvey Barracks Special Services Photo-lab. Handing me keys to a photo-lab is like handing a kid with a sweet tooth the keys to a candy store.

For the next three months, I would go from knowing how to develop Black and White film, color slides and black and white prints to teaching other photo-lab instructors on how to create cyberchrome prints using a Beseler 23C with a Dichroic Head.

I worked with Leica Focomat enlargers, Omega D11, and a Beseler 45.

I worked with Dectol and Selectol for print developers.

I worked HC110, Agfa Rodinal, D-76, Microdol X, Microfine and Diafine.

I learned how to flatten contrast in a negative and then add additional contrast using various grades of paper.

I also opened up the photo-lab so that many more photographers could use the photo-lab. Sales went from $90/month to $400/month. And I was buying about $100 of that myself.

I encouraged creativity.  One solarized image was used by EURARMY Magazine on the back cover and netted the creative photographer with a $25 savings bond.

The film I started using religiously was Ilford Pan F Plus. Used plenty of Hypo clearing agent, too.

I fell in love with Afga Brovira paper. Single weight.

August 1976:

The advanced party of the 101st Airborne Division(Air Assault) begins to show up at Harvey Barracks. At the same the folks running special services thought it would be a good idea to hire a civilian to work with me.

I also found out that the Division Public Affairs Officer LTC John AG Klose had taken command of the 158th Aviation Battalion. Want to guess who was going to sponsor the 158th Aviation Battalion?

So, I told this to our battalion XO and he threw me out of the Library. He got thrown out of the battalion two months later. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After working with my civilian counterpart, and convincing the local head of the Special Services that he was able to handle the lab by himself, my attention was turned to taking spectacular images.

Armed with a new set of photography skills I took images of AH-1S Cobras, UH-1H Hueys, OH-58's and CH-47 Chinooks and hundreds of 101st Airborne Division soldiers, and sent the images back to Division Public Affairs, 101st Airborne Division(Air Assault) via the local Bundespost(Post Office).

During the second week of August, LTC John AG Klose arrives and we meet.

"Hello Dick, what are you doing?"

"I'm running a photo-lab, Sir"

"No, no , no, that's not going to happen.  Whose your boss?"

"LTC Gerald E Lethcoe, Sir."

"I'll go talk to him. That is, if it is okay, with you."

Last time I looked, an E-5 generally doesn't have a say so in such things."

"That will be fine, Sir."

"Also have a message for you from Division Public Affairs.  They want to know how you're getting your images to them so quickly, they aren't getting any images from the official photographers and could you include cut lines on your images.

Are you available to work with me, too?"

"Yes, Sir, my photo-lab is here, just below the flight tower."

"Very good."

I saluted and left.

A few weeks later, I was asked to come out with him and some of his pilots who were part of the Air Assault In Action demonstration for all the various country leaders in Europe. That day was basically the last dress rehearsal before the big day and all the invited press was there.

So, as far as I was concerned, my focus was on finding out what my "Enemy" knew about what was supposed to happen.

I was not paying any attention to the man in the middle of the field.

About the time I figure out they were clueless, I hear this "Dick Edwards get over here."

I knew immediately, who that person was in the middle of the field. It was my old boss from the 2/17th Cavalry.  It was LTC Gary E. Luck.

I went to salute him, he offered me a handshake instead.

"Dick, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm here to take pictures."

He got a bit upset with me on that so I told him the truth.  I was running a photo-lab and I was given permission to take images.

He was much happier with that and asked me where my photo-lab was and I told him.

I then saluted him and went back to where the press was located. I then explained to them what was about to happen and then excused myself and placed myself in a position where I would get the best images of the demonstration and waited for the events to take place.

Once back at the lab, I had to take 12 rolls of film, develop them the way I knew would give me what I needed and then printed what I thought were the best of the best.

As I'm drying the prints, a knock on the door occurred three times.  The last being the loudest. There was a sign on the door that said closed. So, I opened it on the third knock. I was looking at a Full Bird Colonel.

"At ease", he said, "are you SGT Edwards?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm here to pick up pictures. Gary E. Luck sent me."

I'm sure you can imagine my bit of surprise.  One that an LTC would have a Colonel pick up images for him.  Two,  that Gary E. Luck had enough confidence in me to know I would do exactly what I said I would do and have done exactly what I did.

So, I welcomed him in, gave him the images that had been dried and he helped me finish the last 25. I never saw that Colonel, Gary E. Luck or got confirmation that those images even got to Gary E. Luck.

I created another batch of the exact images, put the cut lines on them and sent them back to Division Public Affairs.

I also contacted USAREUR and 7th Army Audio/Video Department and sent over to them proofs of the negatives along with the negatives. From that a batch of 12 images were created and sent out as part of the press releases.

When it was time to say goodbye to LTC John AG Klose once again, he said, "You did a wonderful job for us. I talked to your boss. You need to talk to him. Dick, thank you."

"My pleasure, Sir."

I saluted, we shook hands. That was the last time I saw him.

By all rights, what I did for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was more than a page in the history of that division.  It was as far as I was concerned something I was destined to do. I had seen the AH-1G Cobra go from an Aerial Rocket Artillery platform to a formidable anti-armor TOW Missile platform.

3rd Comabat Aviation Battalion During REFORGER 1977

I seriously doubt that anyone who was in Vietnam thought the difference between AH-1G Cobra "Gunships" and AH-1G Cobra Rocket Artillery Platforms would was big deal more than me.

After all, I pointed this fact out loudly in pictures, cut lines and articles everywhere I went.

So, I suppose that while our colors were retired and the 4/77th became the 229th, that the story about the 4/77th should probably end there.

Well, you see, there is a bit of a problem with that. Goes something like this:

It was said by our Cobra pilots that, "Killing is our business and business is good."

But today, pilots flying anti-armor have a new saying: "Tank killing is our business and, someday, business will be good."

Well, I created this back in 1977 because the unit I was assigned to happened to be the prototype – or forerunner – of all Combat Aviation Battalions that would be used in Europe or deployed to Europe during REFORGER exercises.

We were now designed as an aerial TOW missile firing platform.

The other concept I want to bring up now is this, a really good photo-journalist is one that wants to be constantly stimulated by the subjects he/she takes images of. Every image – even if it is of the same subject over and over again – becomes a unique in the eyes of a photo-journalist because he or she will find something new and different about it.

Lenses other than the normal 55mm are used along with filters. With that said, we can now move into the REFORGER 77. And bear in mind this was the first time that a Combat Aviation Battalion from Europe had ever been used in a REFORGER exercise.

From November of 1976 to July of 1977, Wildflecken and Hohenfels were our home away from home. As a battalion, we did lots of training and I was there to take pictures and write stories about every step along the way.

John Michael Coleman, Editor of EurArmy Magazine, became an unstoppable force with John accepting almost every article I wrote. In fact, he took one of my articles over to Soldiers Magazine and it was accepted.

Within 9 months, over 30 articles were accepted by EurArmy Magazine and 2 by Soldiers, 5 photo-features in Frontline and in Pillar and Post, and Army Aviation Magazine ran 2 two page spreads.

The key here was that the images attracted attention of the press and my writing skills were improving in leaps and bounds.

REFORGER 77

For me, REFORGER 77 was a 6 week no-stop action movie filled with lots of action images, stories few would believe, and articles that went into print almost as soon as I pulled the paper out of the typewriter. Literally, I was at the top of my game.

Did I stop there?

No.

Way I see it, if you're going to screw up, do it in a mind blowing, extraordinarily way.


Two weeks before the exercise started, I called Burdett Seamen, Time Magazine in Koln. I told him that if he showed up at the press center on the first Monday of the exercise, I would have a TOW Cobra there for him to fly in.

He got all excited and agreed.

I immediately ran down stairs to LTC Gerald E Lethcoe’s Office and told him about the Correspondent’s eagerness to be at the Press Center on the day I set and that he would like a ride in the TOW Cobra.

To my surprise, he was equally as enthusiastic and that, I thought would be the end of that.

So, the first thing I did was convince LTC Lethcoe that I needed to go from Stutgart to Ramstien Air Force Base so that I could develop my film and get it over to Stars and Stripes.

So, he had this West Point Captain named CPT. McNaulley fly me to Ramstien. Well between the Caption telling me how demurring and wrong it was for him to fly an E-5 there, he had me read a topo map to help guide him up from Stuttgart so he wouldn't fly into Italian Airspace.

My brother, who was stationed at Ramstien, came out to greet us.

"Who is your brother", he asked him. "I've never seen an Army unit bend over backwards for just one E-5 before in my entire military career."

My rather amused brother couldn't conjure an answer.

I did. I turned around, face the Captain, saluted him and said, "Thank you sir. I'll return to Stutgart when I'm done."

"What you don't want me to wait for you?"

(Thought) F*O*A*H. "No, sir. I have no idea what time or when I will be done. No need for you stay longer than you need to."

It actually took me three days and images were published in Stars and Stripes.

After that, I realized the Press Center was a better place to go to get the film developed and send out press releases. So, every other day, I would go to the Press Center with my undeveloped images and tons of notes.

As it turns out, two trips to the Press Center created some unexpected and very interesting encounters.

Meet Hillary Brown, ABC News. She came in with her camera crew and said she wanted to cover the WACS. She hadn’t been very successful up to this point. Well, it just so happened, we had fielded some WACS for this exercise.

So, I told her about our Cobras and how this was the first time they were being deployed as an official Anti-armor unit during this exercise.

"We’re not here to cover the Cobras," she protested.

"Well, if you want to cover the WACS, we will provide you with a chopper in the morning ", I said, "As long as you’re also willing to cover the Cobras."

She agreed, we picked her up the next morning and we were on ABC news the next night.

But it got really interesting the next time I tried this.

Sometimes, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Now, I knew as well as anyone else that if Time Magazine was going to show up at the press center, a photographer taking pictures for Time Magazine would also be there.

Photo-journalists are almost as memorable as the images they take. It wasn't hard to spot that character. It wasn't height or size that made him stand out like a sore thumb at the Press Center,
it was his massive black, curly electrified French poodle looking head of hair.

He could have been a poster child for the movie Hair.

He had a loop, tons of slide film and a camera named Polaski.  Is there such a brand?  Compared to Hillery Brown, this guy was a Rock Star and wore impatience like the medal of honor.

His name:  David Allan Burnett.

So, I talked to him and told him that I would have a chopper available for him to be escorted to the field where the action was on Wednesday at 8am Alpha time. He agreed and I thought everything would work out as it did with Hillary Brown.

I was wrong.

As soon as I got back to the unit,  LTC Lethcoe was there and asked if he could have a word with me.

"Dick, we have a problem.  The Division Public Affairs Officer has complained about you doing his job for him. He wants to take over the Wednesday press trip."

"Sir, I don't have a problem with that.  But I do wish to speak freely."

"Go a head."

"My father knew General Pat W. Crizer over in Korea and told me he was an exceptional officer. But no one is going to know that if the Public Affairs Officer is more interested in the girls at the press center than promoting Pat's career..

Editorial note:

This was part of Pat's Eulogy:

The 3d Division was special for Pat. He nurtured his division, trained it as well, maybe better than any other in the Army at the time, and developed a camaraderie, esprit de corps, and a professional respect between himself and his officers and men." General George S. Blanchard, US Army, Retired, recalled Pat's command of the 3d Division: "He was an outstanding division commanding general and I remember one Reforger when, through his division's brilliance, the 'enemy' was completely befuddled and practically collapsed." A classmate and close friend, Major General, US Army, Retired, Dick Bresnahan, wrote: "...Recently I met an officer who had commanded a division with great success in the Middle East War. He had been a major in the 3d Division when Pat commanded it. He said. 'Much of my success and that of several other officers over there was the result of lessons we learned from General Crizer while serving under him. He knew his business and was a great teacher.' What else is there to say about such a loyal friend?''

This public affairs officer is not doing his job.

If he was, I wouldn't be pulling off what I've been able to pull off."

"Dick, we know that. Just play along."

"Yes, Sir, I will.  For certain, it is going to get interesting."

And it did. The Public Affairs Officer called in a Zulu time pickup. So, we landed at 9am instead of 8am. Not only that, we were flying a Huey with a condition red X problem where because of the fuel indicator malfunctioning, we had to land every 25 minutes and top off the fuel tanks.

The second time we landed, Burnett lost it.  Between all the yelling and dirt kicking,  he made it clear as I also figured out that we needed to change choppers. So, this was explained to Burnett and luck switched sides.

I should explain at this point who I was sitting with/ On the right side of the helicopter sat three photo-journalists: me, Rudy Williams and David Allan Burnett.

The first photo-op had both me and Burnett in stitches. We were both cutting up so badly, the pilots looked back to try to figure out what was so funny. We also noticed that Rudy Williams did see what we saw as being so funny.

I went hot with the mike. "Sir, we need to land."

So what was so funny.  Picture two GIs sitting at a picnic table casually eating lunch behind them in a small open area were tank and APCs with their guns pointed directly at them.

It was one of those, "What, me worry" moments that was a humorous images asking to be taken.

After eating and changing choppers, we got too busy to remember much about what we were taking images of.  Just that the action shots were out in front of us and there was a lot to pick and choose from.

Suffice to say, some of the images I took in black and what were also taken by Burnett and published in Time Magazine.

There were three other times when I saw Burnett out in the field after that.  Once when I was with my boss and we were watching the drop of an APC out of the back end of a C-130 and once again at the Press Center.

There was supposed to be a 4th time but that was stopped by my boss. We had brought some of the press up to where General Alexander Haig had flown in by helicopter.

I was within a quarter mile of him but was stopped by my boss who told me that because I was overweight, I would not be able to go take pictures of General Alexander Haig.

Little did he or I know that this event stopped me from getting published in Newsweek who told me that had I had an image of a prominent figure, they would have published my work.

When I did say goodbye to Burnett at the press center,  I wanted to see if his ego was a big as his hair do.

So I asked, "Do you think I have a chance getting published in Time Or Life?"

To this day, what he said next I will remember for the rest of my life:

"It is not a question of whether or not you have a shot at getting published in Time or Life.  It is more a question of do you have the willingness to continually send them your best images until they use something you've made available to them. You have to have your name on each slide and you have to have cut lines for each image.

Never give up."


So, to sum things up here.  Images published in Stars and Strips, Pillars and Post, Frontline, Army Aviation Magazine and EurArmy. Worked with Hillary Brown and David Allan Burnett.

Not too bad for a guy who was never trained to be a writer or photographer and was working as a stringer for a battalion..

From the Q Model to the S Model Production

This is what the AH-1G Cobra looked like:





This is what the Q Model looked like.





This is what the S Model Looked like:






This is what the S Model Modified looked like:





This is what the S Model Production looked like:

Meeting my new boss - LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe

When you get close to retirement, you soon realize that those older then you by ten years might just not make it before you let them know just how important they were in your life.

When I knew him, LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe wasn’t just a friend and my boss; he was also much like a big brother. If you knew the man, when ‘Ed’ Lethcoe lowered his head and those eyes squarely focused on yours, you better listen and listen well.

But that didn’t happen too often. Ed was more known for his whit, light hearted jokes he’d play on you and humor.

There's only two times when I made him mad. Once when I called him a Storm Trooper and another when I said something the wrong way to my Company CO in front of him.

He got me back later in Gibelstadt. Its a really big LOL humdinger but a secret we will save for the spiritual world. 



What you haven’t watched 60 minutes?

Okay, just kidding.

I’m not that well known.

Not yet.

At the point where I was about to get on LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe’s radar, I had one Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM) and a Commander’s Certificate for my work as a writer and photographer from 1973 to 1975. I had just worked with LTC John AG Klose and with LTC Gary E. Luck during Reforger 76 to serve – as I did for the great majority of my service time – as an unofficial writer and photographer.
I may not have been the best writer during that period of time, but I was the best photographer. And I was dedicated to capturing the spirit and the energy of Army Aviation in action. In fact, I had more images published in a two month period of time than most would hope to have their entire career.
Because of this reason, the 101st Airborne Division Air Assault saw a lot more coverage during the Reforger 76 exercise than they had hoped for. And this prompted them to put me in for another Impact ARCOM -- which never happened.
Despite all of this positive publicity I proved I was capable of, despite the fact that LTC John AG Klose had talked to him, my previous efforts at convincing the 3rd Combat Aviation Battalion, essentially, crashed and burned.


But Klose being Klose said, “Listen, Dick, I talked to your boss. You really should talk to him.”
So, I got enough courage up to talk to LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe. I actually felt pretty good about talking to him since he was working on a bird feeder down stairs in the woodworking shop. I too liked working with wood and had 5 years of mechanical drawing and shop.
So, I gave him my best speech I could muster up. And hoped he would see the writer and photographer and not the 200 pound soldier in front of him.

What he said totally shook me up.

Let me explain why.

One: LTC John AG Klose and I just had a guy to guy moment where I touched his shoulder and told him in front of his senior officers, “John, everything was going to be alright”.
Two: LTC Gary E. Luck -- according to the Full Bird Colonel who came over to my photo lab.
He said, “I am here to pick up images. Gary sent me here to pick them up.”
NOW, I have my new boss saying, “Well, if you want to and I’m not telling you that you have to…”
What, has the Army Officer Corp gone MAD!!

So, I did talk to the then LTC Gerald E Lethcoe but in probably one of the most unusual places. The Recreational Services Wood Working Shop. That was downstairs below the photo lab.

I was still a bit tender over the fresh cold shoulder "don't call us we'll never call you" previous slamming door.  

Anyway, I looked at him and he looked at me and I thought snowballs chance in hell. After all, he was tall and in the best of physical shape.

Also, LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe wrote the players book on politically correctness. And hit all the check marks for gone in 60 seconds.  

I on the other hand was 5 feet 10 inches and was hitting close to 200 pounds.

So, I told him my story and offered my services.

What he said after that totally convinced me that there had to be something in the water.

First, LTC Klose:  "I'm going to go talk to your boss. Do you want me to talk to your boss?"

What, wait, three stripes doesn't trump an Oak Leaf Cluster. But then, neither does a LTC trump a Colonel.

Then that full bird running errands for a LTC by the name of Gary E. Luck???

So when  LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe started with "Now, Dick, you don't have to if you don't want to.", I started thinking either everyone had gone mad or I was dreaming all of this up?"

I said, "I want to Sir.  It is what I do best."

And with that, I said  good bye photo-lab, hello 3rd CAB.

Again.

When I felt like it wasn’t possible, he made it possible.

When I felt like I was over whelmed, he helped me put order into what I needed to do. And there were times when we talked as friends and he kept me out of hot water.

I was a lot of things back then, saintly wasn’t one of them.

There were times LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe could of thrown the book at me. He didn’t.

Not because he didn’t think I deserved it but because he knew I really did give a damn about him and the soldiers who were part of the 3rd Combat Aviation Battalion.

Less than  a year later:

Soldiers Magazine had published 2 articles and accepted two more
EurArmy Magazine had published over a dozen articles and  had accepted a dozen more
Army Magazine did a photo-feature on Aviation Tank Killers
Army Aviation Magazine had published 30 images
Army Aviation Digest had published 12 images
3rd Infantry Division's Front Line and Pillars And Posts had published over 50 images
Fort Campbell Courier, Clarksville Leaf Chronicle, and the Hopkinsville New Era over 50 images each

USAREUR and 7th Army Public Affairs office had a packet of a dozen images sent to 4 dozen requests world wide.

We worked with the Army Visual Network team, reporter Diana Dannas of the Armed Forces TV Network, David Allen Burdette who took pictures for Time Magazine, and Hillary Brown CBS News.

But the stories weren't about Officers.  They were about the enlisted men and women who made the 3rd Combat Aviation Battalion real for anyone wanting to read their stories.

Prolog

Leaving the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division was like leaving a dream job and  signing on the dotted line for four years for a blind date.

I left tons of friends behind.

I left the Squadron Commander LTC Gary E. Luck, to fend for his own Public Affairs replacement of me and I left LTC John A.G. Klose, the Division Public Affairs Officer with a void to fill.

Granted these two would soon be back in my life in 1976. But that is another story.

All I knew was I was gambling on a 4 year bet that I could jump from one frying pan to another and there was no assurance that my feet weren't about to land in a burn ward.

Problem with public affairs at the Battalion level is it doesn't exist.  And if you're in a critical shortage MOS like I was, well the 67Y20 MOS trumps a non existent 46Q20 job every day.

So, you have to be a certified stir fried crazy to think the magic would happen again.

Anyway, prior to the 2/17th Cavalry change of command, my boss for 18 months was LTC Burnett R. Sanders. For those 18 months, the 2/17th Cavalry saw more than their fair share of stories and images that were published in The Fort Campbell Courier, Clarksville Leaf Chronicle, The Hopkinsville New Era and Army Times. Our new letter received an award and our news releases drew the attention of Division Support Command who sent their E-7 to our Squadron to learn how we -- I mean  I pulled this off.

So I arrive at Harvey Barracks, Kitzingen, Germany in November, 1975.  Get told I don't have the vision to do the work of a 67Y20. Was given two options and quickly picked the one for leaving the Army. The other was a blind luck job assignment.



I didn't sign up for blind luck.

But fate had its way.

I December, I was awarded my second Army Accommodation Medal and a Commander's certificate for the work I had done while with the 101st Airborne Division.

And in December, I got the job 3rd Combat Aviation Battalion's public affairs representative.

This was short lived.  In January of 1976, my wife joined me in Germany, her brother died and we flew back to the states for his funeral. 30 days later, we were back in country.

My TA 50 gear was stolen back at Fort Campbell. But that fact meant nothing so, when the IG inspection came up in March, I had no money to reacquire the equipment. Furthermore, since the IG inspection was an excuse for the battalion XO -- Major Shelley -- Who told me I would never get published and got rid of me, well, that period of time was not one of my brightest moments.

Guess I should have brought along this with was published after I left Vietnam:







 This plus the tear sheets from Vietnam of work published in Stars And Strips, Screaming Eagle and Army Times.
 
So, I got assigned to A Company, 3rd CAB, as a 67Y20 but was told I would be in charge of the Front Gate.

This lasted for about a month until I took over the recreational services photo-lab at Harvey Barracks,

I learned so much about photography during the months of April to July and spent a lot of my own money doing so. I also taught other photo-lab instructors how to use CyberChrome.

As the 101st Airborne Division came over on REFORGER 1977, I started sending back to Fort Campbell, KY images of the solders, their helicopters and the rest of the equipment

When John A.G. Klose brought the 158th Aviation Battalion to my back yard -- his unit as sponsored by the 3rd Combat Aviation Battalion, I told Major Shilley about this up in the Library and he threw me out.  Guess the part about Col Klose talking to our new Battalion Commander about ne getting my old job back rubbed him the wrong way.

Because I now had a civilian working with me at the photo-lab, I had tons of time to focus on the images. And when it came time Col Klose, as me to photograph the Air Assault In Action dress rehearsal the day before the official show for the "big wigs" in Europe, I was ready to go and I was professionally armed and dangerous.

A few weeks later, I was asked to come out with him and some of his pilots who were part of the Air Assault In Action demonstration for all the various country leaders in Europe. That day was basically the last dress rehearsal before the big day and all the invited press was there.

So, as far as I was concerned, my focus was on finding out what my "Enemy" knew about what was supposed to happen.

I was not paying any attention to the man in the middle of the field.

About the time I figure out they were clueless, I hear this "Dick Edwards get over here."

I knew immediately, who that person was in the middle of the field. It was my old boss from the 2/17th Cavalry.  It was LTC Gary E. Luck.

I went to salute him, he offered me a handshake instead.

"Dick, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm here to take pictures."

He got a bit upset with me on that so I told him the truth.  I was running a photo-lab and I was given permission to take images.

He was much happier with that and asked me where my photo-lab was and I told him.

I then saluted him and went back to where the press was located. I then explained to them what was about to happen and then excused myself and placed myself in a position where I would get the best images of the demonstration and waited for the events to take place.

Once back at the lab, I had to take 12 rolls of film, develop them the way I knew would give me what I needed and then printed what I thought were the best of the best.

As I'm drying the prints, a knock on the door occurred three times.  The last being the loudest. There was a sign on the door that said closed. So, I opened it on the third knock. I was looking at a Full Bird Colonel.

"At ease", he said, "are you SGT Edwards?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm here to pick up pictures. Gary E. Luck sent me."

I'm sure you can imagine my bit of surprise.  One that an LTC would have a Colonel pick up images for him.  Two,  that Gary E. Luck had enough confidence in me to know I would do exactly what I said I would do and have done exactly what I did.

So, I welcomed him in, gave him the images that had been dried and he helped me finish the last 25. I never saw that Colonel, Gary E. Luck or got confirmation that those images even got to Gary E. Luck.

I created another batch of the exact images, put the cut lines on them and sent them back to Division Public Affairs.

I also contacted USAREUR and 7th Army Audio/Video Department and sent over to them proofs of the negatives along with the negatives. From that a batch of 12 images were created and sent out as part of the press releases.

When it was time to say goodbye to LTC John AG Klose once again, he said, "You did a wonderful job for us. I talked to your boss. You need to talk to him. Dick, thank you."

"My pleasure, Sir."

I saluted, we shook hands. That was the last time I saw him.

By all rights, what I did for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was more than a page in the history of that division.  It was as far as I was concerned something I was destined to do. I had seen the AH-1G Cobra go from an Aerial Rocket Artillery platform to a formidable anti-armor TOW Missile platform.

That I could be proud of and that, by all measure should have been enough.  So, talking to LTC Gerald E Lethcoe was like closing a chapter filled with Vietnam memories and proud accomplishments and starting a new chapter filled with blank pages.