I have detailed how I came to be a member of the Indiana Army National Guard (ARNG) and now it is time to document how I went from a Private First Class to a Second Lieutenant in the same unit. My career in the guard had been relatively successful as an enlisted soldier. I really had no plans to become an officer but life hands you some interesting little twists and this was one of them. When I joined the 128th General Supply Company, my father had been the First Sergeant. After about 18 months, he moved on to another position and so I was working more as a mechanic now and I wasn’t on Kitchen Police (KP) every other drill. Mostly I was doing what most new mechanics do, I was learning from the senior mechanics. One day in the spring of 1979, while checking the mail at home I received a postcard from the Military Department of Indiana (MDI), Indiana’s version of the Department of Defense. It simple read that they had reviewed my records and wanted to know if I was interested in attending Officer Candidate School (OCS). I had the option of going to OCS at Fort Benning Georgia for the 16-week resident course at an administrative pay grade of E-5 or I could go to the Indiana Military Academy reserve course at Camp Atterbury over the course of a year (two, 15-day annual training exercises and 12 weekend drills) at an administrative pay grade of E-6. Not wanting to be away from my bride, I elected the latter.
I was soon given an appointment for and OCS evaluation board at Stout Field, Indianapolis, Indiana, where I was evaluated by three field grade officers (A Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and a Major) whom I’d never met and they interviewed me to evaluate me for candidacy for OCS. There were three of us there from my unit (I was the junior; the others were a Specialist and a Sergeant) and I was absolutely sure I had not impressed the board. (My high school GPA was 2.65) and the only mildly impressive documentation they had was my Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test score which was well above average. After the board, I had given it little further thought as I was busy getting married and working, just getting along with life. To my surprise, I received a set of orders assigning me to the Indiana Military Academy (IMA) as an Officer Candidate. Surprise! This lasted for about three weeks, then fate decided to pay me a visit. I can clearly remember lying in bed and just as I awoke, lying flat on my back, I coughed. And with that, I now had an inguinal abdominal hernia. The hernia itself wasn’t a big deal, I’d had one as a child. But it required surgery and recovery and this was two weeks before I reported to OCS. OCS is not a place you can recover from surgery and they can’t wait for you either. With this development, I contacted MDI and resigned from OCS without ever attending. (Sigh)
This turned out to be providence as about a month after my surgery, my new wife and I lost our baby girl at birth. The summer and fall of 1979 were tough times as I’d been off work for 6-weeks recovering from the surgery, the disability insurance that was supposed to help us eat while I couldn’t work didn’t get me a draft until two days before I returned to work and then took an additional ten days to clear. Life was pretty well kicking us in the butt. We had no rent money, we had no money at all really and social services was even kicking us when we were down. We qualified for food stamp assistance ($2.00 the first month) and after three months we managed a bit of rent assistance to help out our landlord who was being really nice to us as he could have booted us for non-payment. Finally, by November or so, things were looking a bit better and while I was at one of my weekend drills at Camp Atterbury, I was told to go report to the post commander, Colonel Clifford Brown. I’d had no warning and I had absolutely no idea why I was reporting to the commander but I showed at the appointed time, knocked then entered the office and reported as directed. Colonel Brown asked me to take a seat and then explained that he wanted to know if I was still interested in IMA? I was puzzled, but I told him that I was still interested. He then told me that he was the chairman of my selection board, and based on the previous board recommendation he was again recommending me for OCS and that the other members of the board would concur (It was just me and the Colonel in the office). We talked for a few minutes and I was dismissed. I’d gotten a second change and I hadn’t even asked for it.
With my new orders, the process had changed a bit. I was attached to IMA-OCS at Camp Atterbury for the next year. Twelve weekend drills and four weeks the following summer. I’ll be the first person to admit, I had no clue what I’d gotten myself into by applying for OCS. I knew nothing about being an officer or a leader but I figured it couldn’t be too hard (Wrong) and I knew that if I applied myself I could get through any military school (Correct) so I tried my best to get my shit together before I reported to IMA in June of 1980. My work kept me in decent shape and I worked out a little more than usual. Most of my preparation was my uniforms and boots. I had received some instructions on what I was required to have and had checked off all the items. I’d gotten some new uniforms, embroidered nametags and new jump boots. I tried to get everything up to standard before I reported to OCS.
The first weekend at IMA was an education. There were 60 candidates divided into two platoons. I was assigned to first platoon and my Training and Counseling (TAC) Officer was First Lieutenant Randy Handy. Second Platoon was assigned to Second Lieutenant Martin. TAC Officers are the drill sergeants of OCS. They wear a Smokey the Bear hat, are dressed immaculately, and are generally hard asses. All non-classroom instruction was done by the TAC officers. LT Handy was like his name, unique. He could be very personable one minute, then pull a Sybil (Display a split personality. If you have never seen the 1976 movie Sybil, look it up) and turn in to a raging maniac. You never really knew what to expect from him, which was exactly what he intended. LT Martin was just a prick. LT Marten did mean things just because he was in a position of authority and likely tried to repeat some of the abuse he received in his OCS training. Unlike LT Handy, LT Martin often made mistakes and generally was not respected or well liked.
If you have been to basic training in the military, any branch, then you know the physical part of OCS. You make a mistake; you are doing pushups. You are under 24-hour supervision, everything is inspected and you get to do things you would not normally do anywhere but in training. Our uniform was the standard 1970’s era olive drab (OD) green fatigue jacket and pants, a web utility belt with canteen, combat boots and a helmet liner. I’ll explain a helmet liner as most people likely are familiar with the term. Before the Kevlar helmet, combat helmets were a two-piece device. A steel outer shell and a fiberglass helmet liner. The helmet liner had the web mesh that your sweatband was attached to and weighed about 12 ounces. Like everything else in the Army, it was OD Green. The first weekend at OCS we wore these green helmet liners as our headgear and we were also charged with a mission before the next drill to modify them for OCS. We were issued IMA decals that were to me applied to each side, just above your ears. Before you applied the decals though, you had to paint the liner. The color? John Deere Yellow. The liner had to be sanded smooth (It had a rough texture due to the fiberglass material) then spray painted, then wet sanded and clear coated. Then you applied your decals. The yellow indicated we were Junior Officer Candidates and when we became senior candidates, we would repaint the helmets Infantry Blue (light Blue).
Once of the joys of OCS was drill and ceremony (D & C). Field Manual 22-5 was your bible for D&C and you got to know it and the other manuals in the 50 or so manuals we were issued that first weekend. FM 22-5 was the most used and we got plenty of practice marching to and from classes, meals etc., just like in basic training. But things were always more amplified and you didn’t just have to march, you had to be able to march the unit. The platoon leader and squad leader positions were subject to change at the whim of the TAC officer (Usually after the one before you was relieved). You could be in the ranks one minute and the next you could be in charge of a squad or the entire platoon. These changes can fairly often and if you were the target of the TAC officer for some drill and ceremony error, you were fairly certain to end up in the Duck Squad. The Duck squad was where you went when you fucked up. It was to humiliate you and to encourage you not to repeat the error of your ways. If you were the first person assigned to the Duck Squad, you also go to carry a white plastic goose under your left arm (Officer Candidate Duck). It was called the Duck Squad because you marched single file behind the platoon and you quacked every time your left foot touched the ground. Everyone, eventually, ended up in the Duck Squad. At one point on a particularly bad day, we ended up with more people in the Duck Squad than the platoon we were following.
I mentioned the Duck Squad because at the end of the first drill, LT Handy put me in charge of Officer Candidate Duck. My mission, aside from bring the duck to the next drill, was to make a uniform for OC Duck. I was so overjoyed with this challenge and let me tell you, your wife will spare no expense in adding humiliation to you about being in the Duck Squad especially when you ask he assistance in creating an army uniform for a Duck. Lucky for me, after she had a great laugh at my expense, may lovely wife took to the task and she modified a baby tee shirt and sewed an army fatigue jacket, complete with name tags for OC Duck. U. S. Army over the right front pocket, DUCK over the left. LT Handy was duly impressed with her handiwork and I’d managed a passable job painting my helmet liner. I even got out of the Duck Squad for most of that weekend.
Meeting the standard is the goal in OCS, whatever it is. Just answering a TAC officer requires a specific format, as the first word and the last word in any reply to a TAC must begin and end with “SIR”. To answer a question in the affirmative: “Sir, Candidate Kempf, Yes Sir!” is the correct response. If you were asked something about how to do a drill movement, you might reply: “Sir, Candidate Kempf, In accordance with TM 9-2320-218-10, the preventative maintenance checks and services can be found in chapter three, table 3-1, Sir”. The TAC’s also made a game out of seeing if you would make a decision and stay with it. Once day, while the nominal platoon leader, I was in charge of getting the platoon to the dining facility (Mess hall) and getting them in to eat. I had sent the platoon sergeant in to see if they were ready to feed yet and we’d been told to wait ten minutes or so while they got ready to serve. Having time to kill, I put the platoon at “Stand at Ease” and gave them authorization to smoke if they wanted to do so. LT Handy abruptly came up from the back of the formation and I called “Attention” and then LT Handy began to chew me out for some alleged infraction. After he extolled for several minutes about how unsatisfactory my decision-making process had been, he asked me why I made this obviously flawed decision. I replied “Sir, Candidate Kempf, with the information I had at the time, I made the decision I thought was right, Sir!”. He smiled and replied “Carry On” and walked away. I’d not made any mistake, he just wanted to see if I’d back down. TACs could be assholes.
One last memorable item was during Physical Training (PT). A duty roster (DA Form 6) was maintained to track who would give physical training instruction each morning. Like every other aspect of OCS life this was subject to the supervision of our TACs. Generally, LT Handy wasn’t a morning guy and since they had two TAC to watch us morning and evening, LT Martin being the junior TAC, he got the early morning shift. LT Martin wasn’t a morning kind of guy. The day before I was supposed to lead PT instruction, LT Martin was in a bad mood and took get joy in giving the day’s instructor hell over his instruction of the exercise, the Bend and Reach. I took interest in this because LT Martin was wrong, the candidate had been correct, but lacking confidence, the candidate had given in and instructed the exercise as LT Martin had directed. I made a mental note of this as I had a bad feeling about the next day. Before lights out, I opened up my trusty FM 21-20 (Physical Training) and reviewed the 3 sets of conditioning drills. I took a 3 x 5 card, and I made notes on all 18 exercises, the starting position, the cadence and any details I thought I might need. The next morning, I started through the exercises starting with the “High Jumper” Exercise number one of conditioning drill one. I demonstrated the exercise, then led the candidates in 12 repetitions of the exercise. Then I began to instruct, exercise two of conditioning drill one, the “Bend and Reach”. I followed the book and gave the exact same demonstration of the exercise that the candidate had done the day before. Then I called the group to attention and gave the command “Starting Position, Move”. As I had expected, LT Martin (speaking from my left rear) called out to me: “Candidate Kempf, are you sure you are doing that exercise right?” I replied in true candidate fashion: “Sir, Candidate Kempf, in accordance with FM 21-20, page 37, paragraph 97, subparagraph C, Yes Sir!” LT Martin, somewhat surprised just said “Carry on”. We completed the exercise correctly, then as I told them to shake it out, LT Martin said: “Do the pushups”. I then put the candidates as parade rest and told them: “The next exercise is exercise number four of conditioning drill one, the push up. …” and we completed the push ups. LT Martin was still trying to trip me up so again as I gave the command “Stand at Ease” he said: “Do the Body Twist” and I replied: “Sir Candidate Kempf, Yes Sir!” and we did exercise number six of conditioning drill two the “Body Twist”. At this point, other candidates had demonstrated the exercise but when it had come to leading it to the platoon they’d just called cadence from attention because it required you to get on your back and that made leading the exercise with a group difficult. I was very good at this particular exercise, so I not only called it while doing the exercise, but I put the candidates through a good painful workout with it. Again, at “Stand at Ease” LT Martin chimed in with: Do Leg Circulars”. Again, and I replied: “Sir Candidate Kempf, Yes Sir!” and we did exercise number six of conditioning drill three the “Leg Circulars”. It is a similar exercise to the body twist and I went through the same motions. After the exercise, LT Martin apparently gave up messing with me as it was unproductive, but I didn’t give up on him. I knew he couldn’t run with any endurance and he didn’t know I could call running cadence. I took them for a 4-mile run and I made sure the pace was fast forcing LT Martin to really struggle to keep up. At the end of the run, after I dismissed the formation and LT Martin walked away with his pride well dented, the Candidates carried me in to the barracks on their shoulders as I’d made him look bad and he’d had not way to get even. That was a good day.
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