And There I Was # 14

 And There I Was # 14

What Became of the M-60 Toting Cook

“You want me to do what,” I replied incredulously?

“I want you to send SPC Milmoe to PLDC,” said SFC Borlongo calmly.

“But, you remember what he did in Tularosa during Exercise Roving Sands.”

“Yes, I do. He made sure that our soldiers sent up to the north end of White Sands ate two hot meals a day. He signed for and returned an MKT with no issues. And from what I’ve heard, the food he served was quite good. He made sure that he and SPC Jenkins did the right thing at the right time, with no supervision from you or me,” SFC Borlongo paused, “Isn’t that what we expect our NCOs to do?

“Well, yes,” I grudgingly admitted, “But he’s not on the OML. None of his uniforms or TA-50 have been inspected. And, he’s not had anyone refresh him on land-nav and that’s the biggest reason why soldiers fail out of PLDC.”

“I will make sure his uniforms are ready. And sir, he’s a much better soldier than you realize.”

I thought about her last statement. SPC Milmoe was a decent troop. As a young soldier, he was given to a certain level of goofiness. He never did anything particularly wrong. He just never did anything that particularly stood out as good. Recently married, he and his young wife often zoomed through the company area in their cool bright yellow Carmen-Ghia convertible, belching clouds of blue smoke that would have made any Smoke Platoon LDR happy. He possessed enough military bearing to keep him out of trouble, but PLDC! PLDC slots were few and far between, parceled out like gold by CSMs across Fort Hood.

Getting SPC Milmoe into PLDC would require that I prostrate myself in front of CSM Terry. CSM Terry and I had a certain amount of history. I’d first met him when assigned as the BN S-4 for the Signal Battalion that supported the 2nd Armored Division. This was before we reflagged 2nd to 4th ID (Somewhere amongst all my old Army stuff is a BDU top with the 2AD scar.). Through some rather painful moments that included a rather dented-up wall-locker, CSM Terry had made me into a better officer. Then an opportunity for company command had taken me away from CSM Terry and his stringent ministrations. Then he showed up to replace our retiring CSM. When LTC McKowen was introducing him to all of the company commanders and 1SGs, CSM Terry dropped this pearl in front of everyone.

“I know CPT Robinson. We were in 4ID together. In fact, I had to follow him over here in order to finish my project. I wasn’t through training him into a decent officer when he left.”

Don’t get me wrong. I liked CSM Terry. He was a fine soldier and as good a CSM as you can imagine. He just had this unvarnished way of calling a spade a spade. But, you could not find a CSM who would fight harder for his soldiers…including the officers in his unit. So after SFC Borlongo pestered the frog out of me, I found myself in CSM Terry’s office begging for a PLDC slot for SPC Milmoe. But after extracting promises of SPC Milmoe’s preparedness and ultimate success from SFC Borlongo and myself, he and the appropriate PLDC CSM exchanged the secret handshake and Milmoe was in. We sweated out receiving the results of Milmoe’s initial PT and Land-Nav test; however, he passed both with no problems. Then, SFC Borlongo made another visit to my office.

“Sir, I have another request,” she said fixing me with a stare, “The points have dropped for cooks, and I want to pin Sergeant Stripes on Milmoe as he walks across the stage at graduation.”

“SFC Borlongo, you’ve got to be kidding,” I said, desperation rising in my throat.

“No, I’m not, he doesn’t know that I’m doing this. It would mean a great deal to him. His family will be here for graduation. He’s a good soldier with a good future in the Army. You need to do this.”

“But, I’ll have to get CSM Terry to make the arrangements at the PSB, a place he doesn’t like, and he will extract demands from me.”

“Like what,” she replied, staring me down.

“I don’t know,” I mused, “But it will be painful.” So after much prodding by SFC Borlongo, CSM Terry and I made the trip to the CSM of the PSB. I was privileged to witness the CSM pow-wow and ju-ju. I cannot reveal any of the details as I was sworn to life-long secrecy; but, at the end, we walked out with orders promoting SPC Milmoe to SGT. 

It was a good day when SGT Milmoe graduated from PLDC. His family was ecstatic. His wife jumped up and down, squealing with joy. SGT Milmoe stood tall, proudly checking out the new stripes on his collar. SFC Borlongo, the creator of it all beamed in pleasure. 

“Milmoe,” growled CSM Terry, “You owe this to SFC Borlongo and CPT Robinson. They fought hard for this. Don’t let them down!”

And he didn’t. He turned out to be a great NCO. He went from marginally meeting the standard to excelling and exceeding the standard. He led his troops well, always looking sharp, and more importantly, being sharp. He and his wife still laid smoke when ripping through the BN area, but he did not let SFC Borlongo down. She saw in him something the rest of us missed, the potential to be a great leader.

Years later, when walking across a FOB in Iraq, I heard someone call out, “LTC Robinson!”

I turned around, and it was MSG Milmoe! He’d stayed in and climbed the ranks. This was his last tour in Iraq. He’d dropped his retirement paperwork and would hang up the uniforms upon his return. He and I sat and reminisced about SFC Borlongo, CSM Terry, and Roving Sands. He’d enjoyed his time in the Army, as had I. We laughed together as we remembered the lessons we’d learned back at “the Hood.”