After I had been reassigned to the 227th Maintenance Battalion At Yongsan, Seoul, Korea, to take command of the 305th Supply and Services Company, I was subsequently briefly relieved from command only to be reinstated almost immediately. With how things shook out, I believed that my senior rater would go berserk sometimes. Personally, I believed that he wasn’t getting enough. Actually, I believed he wasn’t getting any at all. If you don’t know what I mean, then believe me, you’ve got issues as well. But after I made adjustments for my senior rater, life as the commander of the 305th Supply and Services Company returned to normal. I had occasional problem children that I had deal with, and I dealt with them using my customary approach to the application of discipline and punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). One Sunday morning, as I was preparing to leave for church with my family, I received a telephone call from my First Sergeant. My First Sergeant said, “Sir, there has been an incident.” I replied, “Okay. Would you care to elaborate?” “I think you should come into the office.” “Well, Sunday is normally my day to run around Namsan Mountain and tower after I go to church, so give me about three hours. I’ll just run to the company headquarters from the base of Namsan Mountain and tower, and I will have my wife pick me up from the company. But to be clear, I will go to church first and finish my run before I come in.” “Yes Sir. I think the matter can wait until then.” I thought to myself as I hung up the phone, well, nobody has killed themselves or anybody else for that matter, otherwise the First Sergeant would have wanted me to come to the company immediately. After my family and I attended church, I set off on my run around Namsan Mountain and tower. When I had moved up to Seoul from Taegu, I had replaced the mountain hiking that I had done down in Taegu with the long distance run around Namsan Mountain and tower once a week. I figured it was a pretty even trade. A lot of people asked me why I did it, and I would simply answer because I could. When I arrived at my company headquarters, my First Sergeant and Lieutenant Tom Woodson from my laundry and bath Detachment were waiting for me. Lieutenant Woodson was affectionately known as Woody to all of the officers in the company. Whenever he was in the presence of the other lieutenants, and they thought I was nowhere to be found, Woody did one hell of an impression of me. I actually caught him in the act of impersonating me once, and I must admit that he did one helluva bang up job. I was impressed. Woody was not in Seoul that day to impress me with his impersonations. He was there to share some rather grim news about two of his soldiers. Woody was going to make one helluva fine officer down the line because he led with passion. He poured his heart and soul into his job. Today, he was not here to impress me with his leadership qualities. Today, he was here to tell me about a fateful trip that started from a motor pool. Lieutenant Woodson began his tale, “Sir, it happened like this. Private Simmons and Private Johnson went to the motor pool Saturday at 1600 hours to dispatch a deuce and a half. They weren’t in uniform. The clerk on duty would not allow them to dispatch the vehicle. They left the motor pool. Approximately 15 minutes later, an unknown party called the clerk on duty away from his post on some pretext. When the clerk returned, one deuce and a half was missing from the motor pool. Private Simmons and Private Johnson had taken the deuce and a half. Both soldiers were wearing fatigue blouses to make it appear as if they were in uniform. In reality, they were dressed in civilian clothes. They drove the deuce and a half to the Camp Red Cloud PX so that they could pick up a set of drums. While transporting the set of drums back to their barracks, Private Simmons and Private Johnson were involved in an accident with a Korean taxi. The accident was pretty severe and caused injuries to the Korean driver. When the Korean National Police alerted the military police (MPs) about the accident, Private Simmons and Private Johnson attempted to flee the scene of the accident. They were apprehended and detained until the MPs arrived. The MPs took them into custody and had the deuce and a half impounded. I had to sign to have Private Simmons and Private Johnson released from custody. I currently have them confined to their barracks.” It was my turn to ask some questions, “What about the Korean taxi driver? Do you know the extent of his injuries and where he was taken?” “No, Sir. The MPs said that they will inform me as soon as they have that information.” “Next question: how do we get our impounded deuce and a half back?” “Sir, I am also working on that. I will let you know.” “Okay. So, it seems the situation is still rather fluid.” “Yes Sir.” “What in the hell were your boys thinking? They should have at least put on their uniforms if they were going to try and fool somebody into believing they had dispatched the vehicle. As it is, their charges are misappropriation of a government vehicle, destruction of a government vehicle, unlawful use of a government vehicle, conduct unbecoming, failure to repair, and disobeying a lawful order. Am I missing anything, First Sergeant?” “No, Sir. I think you’ve hit everything,” my First Sergeant replied. “How in the hell did those boys fool the dispatcher into leaving his post? I am really puzzled by that.” “I think that they probably had a local business woman call him and lure him away.” “Really? Do you think that actually worked?” “Oh yes Sir. Especially if the business woman offered him something for free.” In case you don’t know, dear reader, a business woman is a lady of the evening. I hope you get the picture. I told my First Sergeant and Lieutenant Woodson to get the deuce and a half back and gather the rest of the information on the extent of the injuries to the taxi driver. I needed to know how much money the Army was going to have to pay to the taxi driver’s family in sympathy money. I also needed to know the extent of the damage to the deuce and a half to determine whether a report of survey was needed. I could not deal with punishment to Private Simmons and Private Johnson until I had all of the information. A potentially bad accident and bad decisions by Private Simmons and Private Johnson did not call for a hasty decision from me. I told my First Sergeant and Lieutenant Woodson that I would postpone a decision on punishment until I had all of the facts. A hasty decision made now could lead to a very nasty exercise in futility.
by 
by 