As i have previously noted Major Marty Linville was an Army officer. So technically these are Army war stories, not Navy sea stories. But they are kin, and Marty deserves to be included in my sea stories.

i have written two posts about my friend, an inadequate description for the relationships we had and what many other folks had with Marty Linville after he crossed over the bridge. i plan to post more of stories about him. They are meant to honor him. This is one of my favorite ones:

After Marty finished the Army’s Officer Candidate School and artillery training, he reported to Fort Carson and was in charge of a 105 mm Howitzer unit. A large exercise between Marty’s side and the “Orange” opposition.

On the first day, Marty’s unit was directed to set the battery and conduct a non-live firing operation. As it began, a gas attack was simulated and Marty and his unit donned protection against gas warfare, including gas masks. When Marty began to give his unit orders for operating the system, the soldiers could not understand him, and he couldn’t understand them. Finally, in frustration, he yanked off his gas mask so his troops could understand his direction.

An exercise umpire overseeing the howitzer unit, halted the action. He then proceeded to chew out the second lieutenant, vividly pointing out that all exercises should be treated as if they were actual conditions, not simulated. Marty saluted and snapped, “Yes, Sir,” taking the admonition to heart.

The operation continued the next day. Marty’s unit was ordered to move into a position to fire on the orange forces. They proceeded down a rough road headed for the position when they were confronted with a problem. The orange forces had downed several trees and blocked the road with the logs making the passage through the road impossible. The unit would have to detour, a significant added distance, which would prevent them from reaching their objective on time.

Remembering his chewing out and the direction to treat the war game as if it were real, Lieutenant Linville called his top sergeant to his side. He asked Top what he thought about clearing the blockade with the howitzer. The top sergeant was excited about the opportunity to shoot the howitzer in live fire.

The backed up the big gun up and blew away the blockade.

Marty relates the next morning, he had breakfast with the commanding general. Or rather, the general had breakfast while Marty stood at attention while between bites, the general let Marty bear the philippic in no uncertain terms.

A letter was entered into Marty’s service record noting the general’s reproof of the incident. i’m sure the letter kept from Marty from being promoted beyond major. He proved his mettle and leadership in Vietnam, receiving the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions when a North Vietnamese company conducted an attack on Marty’s 13-man Howitzer unit.

Marty is one of the finest military officers i ever met.

The general made a huge mistake.