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8/17/2019 The Giant (May 1971)

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15 MAY 1971

THE

GIANT

SOMEBODY CARES

i., JOHN WARD

SCHWAEBISCP. lKt;END Ser-

19ant

Bob Amie not

•

tortune

tel ler . Alld be ia n

1

t

playing

the

stock

market .

But nevertheless, there is

: no one 111>re concerned with

the ruture than he.

Tbe 4th

Battalion,

41

at

Artillery

NCO

ia

the·lllllll

in

oharge or the

Battalion

In

fonnation Office ,

an organi-

1ation

created

to

assis t

soldiers in 111&king

t te t ran-

vaa iDYented by lll'C Q:larlH

E ~ah, oonmarider t the 4th

or the

41st, and a 111m who••

commitment to the

welfare

r hi1

men

enend1

beycm.d

their EI'S. A lAinnie noted,

"The Colonel decided that we

should

t ry to do 1omething

for returning

aerYicemen.

He

wanted to 1118ke bis aen aware

of what they would face at

home and prepare them to

cope

with

i t ,"

T::ERE

AID~ AH

AWFUL

LOT OF GUYS Ill THE AR

HY

WHO HEED

A

BREAK ••

•

1i

tion from 111ilitar:v to

c iv

i

li l i fe . Though moat

"short-timers" feel they

need l i t t le

help

,

SGT

Lennie

knave there

ia more to get

t ing out

or the Arrq

thari

packing

cm.e•a

bags and say

ing

good-bye •

So

maqy

guys leave the

Army

without a ma

rket

a

ble

ski ll

,"

eaya the well- spoken

Lennie.

"And in

doing 10 ,

they

run eerious risk of

becollling one lll()re of Ameri

ca 's

already

350,000 unem

ployed

veterans

aged 20-29•

These days, jobs

an just

plain hard to

colll6

by.  

SOT Lennie

ia

not an

a l

armist.

He is a

realis t

-

and a concerned one. Hie

Battalion Information Office

doctor

Besides

1ick

-cal l , the

battalion surgeon performs

minor s

urgery, conducts

physicals

, and runs

both

a

Dependent and

an Obstetrics

clinic. He

conducts regular

111Sternity and

drug

discuas

ions and is a lllf mber

t

the

Drug

Alulesty Board. M i t

these

activities were

no te

nough to keep him busy

at

home,

nery Monday

Dr Murphy

has

what one of his

staff

calls

"the

road show.

He

boards a ·-

helicopter

a11d

fl iea

to the

4lat•s

Boettingen

field

s i te ,

vhere

be

conducts sick-cal l , tends

aches and

pai

na , and

baa

a

amall dependent

cl inic.

ETen with his bu.s7 sched

ule,

the

doctor

s t i l l

man-

ages to

tind ti m

e

for his

special

interest: p,yctiatry.

He sees

most of Sehwaebiach

Gl llend

1

1

psychiat

r

ic

caees

and has even organized a

group therapy sNsion for

Though he h u been

unable

to verify i t . sv ~nnie be

lieves

his is

the

only of

fice of

i t s

kind in ~rope-

an o

rganization

dedicated

primarily to

readying

veter

ans

to face

the world.

The pr

eparation

is

of

tvo

varieties .

"We try to

pro

vide

information on what

jobs

are available

i n the

States

and

whe rs . We

•ve got.

materials on vo~ational

and

technical training programs

as ,w

e l l

as

t he many govern

~ental progrllllls designed to

provide jobs. We attempt to

~iscover

a

Dl8n

1

a

special

in

terests and then

counsel,

advise,

and

make suggestions

about. ca reer fields

and

op

port\Jnit.ies

•"

•s0111e

guys who were

getting

prett7

heavily

into

drugs.~

Each case

bas

to be

tak

eP

individually,"

he said of

his psychiatric

work. The

peopl( I had in group thera

py were

using

drugs out of

anger vi th ttie

Amy.

I t r ied

to get them to see

things

in

a different light. For in

stance,

I asked them,

1

Who

are

you going

to

tn1rt

with

dn.:gs, you

rself

or the

l l l i l i -

tary?' Withil'.I the lilllits of

the program,

we

were quite

successful.~

Dr ~rphy

i s

well

pleased

with

his

choice

of

profeee

ion

even

though, as he

says,

"sick-call

dampErui

the spi r

i t

of

idealism."

But there

is

more

to the men

than

stethoscopes and aspi r i

n.

"One

of

the

things

I Ul

most looking forward

to,"

he

said with a

wistful,

far

away look in his eyes, "is

buyir,g a

Land Ronr after

I

get. out of the An,,y and t ra

velling

around

.Africa,

1

M a doctor?

Nope. Just a

touris t ."

PNi

F

4

n the

line

of practi cal

education, the Battalion

In

formation

Office offers two

sophisticated

courses

in

oomputPr pr ogralllllling

ll ld

color television repair.

These

are

BPonsored by

RCA,

11 uys I.Atm:lie , and they

give

the

soldier both

class

room arxl correspondence in

atruct

ion, >.lso, the eo•Jrs

cs

car. be paid for througr, the

GI Bi11,

It.• s a

good W8¥ for

an

inter~sted

f Wf

to

sec~re

his future.•

For

a soldier

as

concerr.

ed

with the

future as SO':'

Lennie

is

, t te word •

short

 

has an entire ly diffe r ent.

meening

than

i t does

to

t te

1118jority of soldiE-rs who usr

i t .

" I hate

the

idea

of a 0-

who•s been employed

for or

3 years in the

Arrrry

g

ett in

r

out and

endin~

up

walki~f

on

the

streets

looking

for

a

job,"

he

says emphatically.

SGT

Lennie

•s dedioatio::

to hie

job

is impreasi

ve.

J

he commented,

" I f

am

able

to

help

just

onr

aoldi~r

a

month,

I

•m hapw. More t r

.

n:-

.

one is just

so

mucl·

bet H

Because there are an av .f' : ;

lot

of guy• in the Arrey w

h,

need a

break.~

gr f

'continued from. page 1.

F.ffecti•e

tbe t

reiu in g

was• -

and

successful. N~v

equip111ent,

tested

for the

f i rs t

t ime

in

3urope, met

with the

approval or

both

i t s .Aaerican and German

ob

ae"era .

At the

same time, the

81st, as a battalion, demon

strated that i t s

equipment

is unqueetionably ready

for

a l l combat contingenc i es • . 13

LTC

Cambell

has

said

of his

wiit•s position aa

a

conier

stone of

NATO'•

defenses,

We're ready for the chal

lenge,"