"A Tribute To These Great American Heroes!"
Back in the late 1970's when I was selected for the US Army Special Forces, then Maj Robert Howard, was the Camp Mackall Commandant of Special Forces Training held deep in the heart of Southern Pines & Pine Bluff, North Carolina. To have him as your commander meant only one thing; it would be the toughest deal of my life.
When Maj. Howard grinned we all knew that it was somebody's ass in the wind.
We all were assigned Special Forces Buddies back then and my buddy was a 7 language speaking, Ph.D., with 2 Master Degrees and he was a sarcastic smartass from hell. Needless to say, that every time he opened his mouth we were both in trouble and promptly called in front of the Instructor for discipline or in front of you guessed it, Maj. Bob Howard. The rule back then was that if one of us got in trouble both of you had to pay the price. A couple of years later I worked with Maj. Howard rebuilding the old obstacle course and replacing the wooden structures for metal out at Camp Mackall. This was an obstacle course from the imagination of Satan himself. Now a metal version of hell was being constructed . You had to know Bob Howard. Whenever he smirked or grinned with his teeth clinched together, you just knew that whatever or whoever was in his crosshairs at the time was dead meat. It was certainly an honor serving with Col. Robert Howard. He will be missed!
At the same time while Col Howard (Then Major) was out at Phase I & III, Col Ola Mize was the Commandant of all of Special Forces Schools on Smoke Bomb Hill. Talk about a "Double Whammy". I had the dreaded "Pseudo Folliculitis Barbae" (Shaving Bumps) while going through training and was forced to have "LIMITED" facial hair. On one of my unluckiest days, Col Mize decided to have a walk through. This guy probably weighed 160 lbs. soaking wet but was menacing all the same. When he ran out of ammunition fighting all night as his base camp was over run, he picked up and used an entrenching tool (a small shovel) to kill an additional 13 enemy combatants hand to hand throughout the remainder of the battle. We nicknamed him "Entrenching Tool Mize". Col Mize then nicknamed me "Blue Beard" and it stuck for a while I was on Ft. Bragg. Needless to say, he read me the riot act about my beard but you could tell that he was proud that I made it as far as I did back then. Not many Blacks made it through Special Forces Training less known my dumbass with a full beard. I stood out in so many ways and that was not what anyone wanted while in training. I'd run in to the Col many times over the years and he was always as hardcore and disciplined as one could imagine. "Old School Military" was his middle name. He will be missed!
"Entrenching Tool" Mize (Col. Mize) was one of the greatest heroes of all Special Forces and a man with whom to be reckoned!
The following year before I went to 7th Group, I had a chance to meet and get to knowCol Roger Donlon at the Presidio of Monterey, California. We were both assigned to the same Defense Language Institute Spanish Class for a period of time. As a young buck sergeant, this full bird Colonel took a liking to me maybe because I was the only other Green Beret in our section. Everyday was an adventure. One day he would tell me stories that only God and he knew and the next day he would bring in the explicit photos confirming the stories. This guy was the real deal. He was a Captain when he won his Medal of Honor and trust me when I tell you, "He deserved it"!
Col Donlon is a great American and the epitome of a Special Forces Soldier, Leader and Officer! His wisdom is that of true legends.
To sum up these encounters as briefly as I've done here really beckons for a longer version to be published at some later date in the future. I could easily and greatly expand on these brushes and encounters with "Greatness" and "Great Men" but I am saving the more detailed version for my auto-biography. Sometimes when I sit back and ponder the events of my life, I kind of feel like a "Smart" version of the Forrest Gump character. Is it fate, destiny or dumb luck? I have no clue. I really had no idea how lucky I was to have known these men for the brief time in our nation's history when leaders and role models actually played a tremendous part in America's greatness as a nation and catapulted us on to the world stage as a dominant global power.
Frankly, Bob Howard scared the shit out of me, Ola Mize's mere presence taught me how not to be afraid of anything and Roger Donlon imparted the wisdom of all of them knowing that those tales he shared and my training would eventually save my life and that of others over the years. They all served a greater purpose not only for me but for most who came in contact with them. As I always say, "These men were all harder than Wood Pecker's lips".
These men are Legends!
De Oppresso Liber
