massive north vietnamese attack on a hill top outpost. he and his brothers were heavily outnumbered, it took just minutes for the enemy to break through their defenses and the fighting very quickly became hand-to-hand. history records in that moment that that young 1st lieutenant rallied his brother to stand their ground. ordered air and artillery strikes from a dangerously exposed position for four straight hours. as the situation worsened, he personally directed the withdrawal and provided cover fire and to ensure his brother s safety, and to inflict maximum damage on the enemy, he actually called in an artillery strike on his own position. wounded and unable to escape himself, he managed to evade detection for eight long days until he was rescued when american forces retook the outpost. for his conspicuous gallantry,
much if i tell it today. 36 years ago this march, a fi1s lieutenant in the united states army woke at dawn to a massive north vietnamese attack on the hilltop outpost. he and his brothers were heavily outnumbered. it took just minutes for the enemy to break through their defenses and fighting very quickly became hand to hand. history recorded in that moment that that young 1st lieutenant rallied his brothers to stand their ground. he ordered air and artillery strikes from a dangerously exposed position for four straight hours. as the situation worsened, he personally directed the withdrawal and provided cover fire and to ensure his brother s safety and to inflict maximum damage on the enemy, he actually called in an artillery strike on his own position.
it mook metook me awhile to lea. there are two separate career paths in the u.s. army. this shows the officer career path for commissioned officers through officer candidate school or rotc or the service academy at west point for the army. you can start on the officer career path that starts at 2nd lieutenant, then 1st lieutenant, then captain, then major, then lieutenant colonel and a full bird colonel and then you re a general, one star and two star and so on. there is also a separate career pathing with different ranks for what they call enlisted personnel. this means you don t start at officer candidate school or rotc or west point. you enlist as a private. and then from there, the ranks rise through private first class and then specialist and then sergeant and staff sergeant, then sergeant first class, master sergeant, first sergeant, sergeant major and then command sergeant major. technically, there is one rank
not the private in question. he in fact is a captain. some of the stuff we just absorb even if we re civilians, we just absorb it through the news and movies and culture. it is worth appreciating though one important distinction about personnel in the u.s. army that we civilians i think don t always get. it took me awhile to learn it. there are two separate career paths in the u.s. army. this shows the officer career path for commissioned officers through officer candidate school or rotc or the service academy at west point for the army. you can start on the officer career path that starts at 2nd lieutenant, then 1st lieutenant, then captain, then major, then lieutenant colonel and a full bird colonel and then you re a general, one star and two star and so on. that s the career path. there is also a separate career path with different ranks for what they call enlisted personnel. this means you don t start at officer candidate school or rotc or west point. you enlist as a private. and t