I arrived on the cold snowy morning of December 7, 1967. We stood out on the grinder until we were almost frost bitten. I remember thinking, “What have I done?” I was appointed Sergeant of Arms for Company 622 by our Company Commander 1st Class Petty Officer Fields. It was protocol that the first rack was to be for the Sergeant of Arms, but our Company Commander wanted the RPOC (Recruit Petty Officer in Charge) to sleep in the very first rack, so I was lucky to be placed near the back of the barracks with my buddies. I was left at the barracks one very cold day, while everbody else went to a class. I was to wait for the barracks inspector to come inspect our barracks. The gruff old salty Chief showed up and told me since I was the Sergeant of Arms, I had three red stripes on my sleeve, he was going to inspect my locker and bunk first. He turned immediately and went to the first bunk and commenced to destroy it and the locker, making notes of demerits for all the infractions . He chewed me out, “Worst rack and locker I ever inspected!”, handed me a copy of his report and told me I would be working off these demerits until I graduated and then stormed off to inspect the rest of the barracks. There were a few more small infractions, but nothing major. He left our barracks with a growl and with me smiling from ear to ear. If you will remember, my rack is in the back, that rack he inspected was the RPOC’s rack and nobody liked him anyway. True Story. I never told a soul about it, but my buddy Terry Lancaster from Tupelo, Mississippi. I had a great four years, served as a Jet Mechanic on the USS Lexington, the USS Roosevelt, the USS Saratoga, and the USS JFK. I got out of the Navy on December 7, 1971 and went into the Kentucky State Police on September 14, 1972 and served 27 years. I taught Firearms and Narcotics at the Academy for two years after I retired. Then I came on board with the Kentucky State Attorney’s Office as an investigator where I still serve. I track down absent parents for the Child Support Division. I have been here for almost 18 years and to date I have tracked down 21,600 absent parents and counting.

Foot note: One of the true honors in my career with KSP. I was a sniper on the KSP Special Response team and had the distinct honor to getting to meet and pick up Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock (Whitefeather) Retired USMC, at the Lexington Airport who had come here to put us through his sniper school. I roomed with him for the four weeks he was here and took care of him. He died on February 22, 1999. He always told us, “Be hard like a wood peckers lips, pay attention to detail and hold toward the center.” Pretty good philosophy for life.