For those of you who were never at Ft. Hood, TX, let me provide a bit of background. The post was set up for each brigade to have its own area. These were aligned along an east-west road with the brigade areas to the north and the various post facilities to the south. Another east-west road ran north of the brigade areas with the motor pools and maintenance shops across the road.

Each battalion had its barracks, headquarters building, company headquarters and supply rooms in proximity. Each brigade area had a consolidated dining facility (DFAC) and a small Post Exchange (PX) store with an attached snack bar.

My tale begins in the summer of 1975. I was in C Company of the 1^st Battalion (Armor) 7^th Cavalry Regiment in the 1^st Brigade of the 1^st Cavalry Division. The battalion “greeting of the day” recited with great enthusiasm when saluting officers was “Garry Owen, Sir”.