Two remembrances:
There was a day where they fired the found and refurbished cannon before chow
in front of Duncan. It was between the bugle stand and the Duncan kitchen.
There was a slight drizzle going on, so the cannon crew was unsure if it would
fire or not.
Two things that were of consequence were that even though it was not loaded,
there was a question as to how much powder should be used, as well as, Lt
Holzman standing under a tree close to Dorm 10 but slightly down range of said
cannon.
Once the bugler finished he moved quickly towards Dorm 9. I don’t remember any
of the other officers addressing the Lt. to move. Someone nodded and the fuse
was lit. Three things happened at once....the explosion caused every window to
shake as birds across the campus took flight, the cannon (which had its wheels
braced from behind) rose a considerable distance off the ground and the Lt.’s
beret leaped off of her head as she passed out. It was only then that the other
officers moved towards her.
The other item was the day Mike Alvarado and I were walking down the quad to go
to class. Some of you may have remembered that Mike had already served 3 tours
in Nam and was not only a Capt. but a navy seal as well. As we approached Lt.
Holzman I saluted but Mike didn’t. About 3 steps later she yells out at both of
us to stop.
She came up to Mike and after reaming him out about not saluting went totally
apeshit about all the military ribbons and such on his uniform. Every time he
tried to interject a comment she cut him off. Then she said that she would have
him removed from the Corps and kicked out of school. Mike’s response was an
extremely colorful diatribe of many hyphenated words.
She cut him off and told us both to go directly to Col. Parsons office with
her. When we reached the Trigon she saw Parsons door was open and we all three
marched in. At this point Mike and I both saluted, but she had already started
trying to explain Mike’s errors.
We got about a minute into the rant when Parsons held up a finger. He had me
stand off to the side and proceeded to explain that a superior officer is the
one saluted as well as a decorated war veteran. He did chastise Mike for his
colorful remarks and asked us to shut the door on the way out.
This happened late spring our pisshead year.
Upon going to bull text later that week I was informed that I had failed for
the semester with an F and to not come back to class. I had already signed my
papers to continue in the Army the week before. She informed me that I had a
poor military outlook on life and she was going to make me suffer.
Unbeknownst to me, Mike called his dad in SA and mine in Gainesville. On Friday
morning both dads, Mike and I went to see Col. Parsons. Mr. A was a full bird
Colonel and my dad was a Lt. Colonel, both in the AF. This time I was asked
to step outside the office while the four of them waited for Holzman.
After a while I was brought in. Parsons requested my grade to be made a B.
Holzman refused siting again my military outlook and not being the caliber of
officer the Army needed. When all was said and done, she agreed to change it to
a D. Col. Parsons opened my 201 file and asked me if I still wanted to
continue. There were three heads shaking no, but my dad said it was up to me. I
declined the offer and he tore up my file and tossed it. We left for lunch as
the Lt. and Col. stayed behind closed doors.
I continued to salute Holzman for two more years, but always used my left hand.
Mike continued to salute her but did it in the style of Benny Hill with a huge
grin.
David Townsley
On Mar 16, 2021, at 2:04 PM, Stu McLennan <sgmclennan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Lieutenant (then Captain) Holzman was Army, but fortunately we never
interacted. Major Carothers, Captains Laidig and Orr, and MSG Petty had “lock
and tone” on me because I spent 7 of my first 8 semesters on scholastic
probation. I was then summoned multiple times each semester by all three
officers for an “attitude adjustment”. Carothers was Infantry and did his
Airborne Ranger shtick. Laidig was Field Artillery and tried reason because
he knew that, like my father, it was my branch of choice. Orr was Ordnance
and just nuked me. How fitting. One time he saw my reflection in his office
mirror, as I stood at attention, lip-syncing his tongue-lashing. The fallout
from that was epic; I ended up in Colonel Parson’s office. The essence of
each rant however was the same; the Army is going to yank your scholarship
and send you to Fort Benning as a PFC if you don’t straighten up. MSG Petty
always batted clean-up. He’d pick me up and dust me off, in a combat vet,
Special Forces kinda way. Years later I discovered it was all an empty
threat. Seems 4-year US Army ROTC scholarship awardees, even from California,
were coveted by colleges and universities and tracked by HQDA. Who knew.
Fast forward to 1991. Major McLennan met Colonel Ira D. Orr at a Command and
General Staff Officers Course function at Fort Leavenworth. It was the first
time we’d met since 1976 and he introduced me to his wife. “So you’re Fish
McLennan”, she said sweetly as she held my hand, “We didn’t think you were
going to make it.” It was funny by then, and we all laughed. Truth is,
sometimes neither did I. Thank God for Kay and Dr. Roy Gilbert, Econometrics
463. That is a story for another time.
Stu
