Within two days they had promoted me to a Lance Bombardier
and I learned that's the toughest job of all,
Major Generals have it soft, cause they never do anything.
They've got tons of people to do it.
But the lance jack, he's living with his friends
and they come to the lance jack and they say,
"Get six men and pick up shovels and go down and
shovel that load of sand into the.." Who do you choose?
You're a lance jack, you're living with these guys,
you suddenly put a stripe up, and you got to go your friends
and say you, you and you. You've got, no authority,
you've got no respect, you've got nothing. That's the tough job,
believe you me.
I, I acted as a Lieutenant Colonel at brigade,
I described that in the book you know.
And I lay on this big fire plan and then I sit there
twiddling my fingers.
That's what they do. I mean it's the
simplest thing in the world to be a General.
But a lance jack let me tell ya,
you force a personality and necessary
those things have gotta be ready.
At the time I thought what kind of an idiot am I
to have fallen for this. But in the end also you,
you never, never take for granted the dignity and the
sensitivity of people under your command.
I mean you, I never put a man in charge. Now I've
had people accuse me of neglecting my my responsibility.
That I was dumping the responsibility on somebody else
and that may be true but, now I tore strips off people
verbally you know, privately and, but I never, I never,
I always I could put myself into that man's position
because I'd been there, I had stood at attention.