About Face by David H. Hackworth

Author:David H. Hackworth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 2020-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

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When Colonel Abts received his own orders for an advisory assignment in Vietnam, I assumed it was all over for my bootstrap degree. The thing was that while the 101st’s Chief of Staff had approved my going to school, he would not give the G-4 shop a replacement major (none were available) during my absence. Colonel Abts had accepted this, but I doubted his successor would. To expect a new boss to go shorthanded in our extremely busy staff section for almost a year was really too much to hope for. So in early December, when Lieutenant Colonel John Neff, the new G-4, called me in to say I was off to Austin Peay, I was knocked out. A replacement still had not been found for me, but Neff, an urbane, thoughtful West Point officer, seemed unconcerned: somehow everyone would manage, he said, and it was important for me to get the degree. I was amazed. In a more often than not self-serving Army world, Neff, who had every right to cancel my orders, was thinking of me.

Despite its belly-to-belly proximity to Fort Campbell, at Austin Peay College a sense of urgency was looked upon as some kind of dreaded Yankee disease. It was a big switch. Almost twice the age of many of my classmates and a thousand times more serious, I needed some time to settle in to the peaceful and relaxed style of this sleepy southern school. Once I tuned out the 101st’s hectic goings-on, though, I began to enjoy my TDY civilian life. I loved the people, maybe because the Hackworth family roots were anchored deep in the hills of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee; I enjoyed the academic side, too, and drove myself hard, majoring in history, with minors in sociology and journalism (based on interest and what seemed to be most applicable to being an Army officer). Patty, the girls, and I still lived on post at Campbell, but if my temporary break from the pressures of G-4 work had lifted the family’s expectations for a more complete home life, they were soon dashed: I drove off to school in the morning, and when I came home I locked myself in my study and hit the books until bedtime. I knew this was my last chance if I was going to “make it” in the Army.

Historically, the only thing Austin Peay had going for it was that Woodrow Wilson’s father had taught there when the place was Southwestern Presbyterian University. When that school relocated to Memphis, Austin Peay, the governor of Tennessee and a Clarksville boy himself, had headed the push to bring another college to the town, and my soon-to-be alma mater was the result. Academically, Austin Peay had more in its favor—many fine professors, for one thing, among them Dr. Wentworth Morris, who in particular opened a lot of doors in my head (including some I probably would have preferred to remain shut). Until a few months passed and I started

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