Everything I Ever Needed To Know About Banking I Learned as a Grunt Infantry Officer in the USMC

I arrived in Okinawa as a brand new, shave-tail, butter bar, second lieutenant fresh from The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia in January 1977.?In May of 1976, I had graduated from Texas A&M University, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and a week later, Candy and I were married in Marble Falls, Texas.?

Candy temporarily dropped out of school at TAMU to accompany me to Quantico and The Basic School (TBS) knowing full well I wanted to be an Infantry Officer. With her concurrence, I would request assignment to go to the 3rd Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan, getting an unaccompanied overseas tour out of the way early.?We got what we wished for as I shipped out to Okinawa and she went back to TAMU to finish her degree in education.

Upon arrival at Kadena AFB, Okinawa, and all the check-in processing complete, my first duty station assignment was platoon leader for the 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division located at Camp Hanson, Okinawa, Japan. ?

Going to Embarkation School was widely regarded among lieutenants as the kiss of death to a Marine Corps officer’s career. This school, highly important to Marine Corps tactics involved learning how to take a reinforced infantry battalion and get them properly spread loaded onto US Navy amphibious shipping or aircraft. Having landed in a rifle platoon, I thought I had avoided Embarkation School.

I had been with my platoon for only a few days when I received, as did many of the new 2nd lieutenants in One Four orders for, you guessed it, Embarkation School.?So, in a two-week period, I learned how to prepare embarkation plans, move Marines, equipment, supplies, rolling stock, and everything needed including beans, bullets, and band aids, and went back to my platoon.

Midsummer 1977, I was still a platoon leader and thoroughly enjoying myself in the Northern Training Area (NTA) of Okinawa, navigating mountainous jungle terrain and conducting long range patrols when 2nd Lieutenant Rick Matteson came all the way up to the NTA to see me.

I knew Rick before Okinawa. We were in the same platoon at TBS. Good man. We went to embarkation school together. He had drawn the short straw early and was assigned as S-4A and battalion embarkation officer on the battalion staff.

Rick had successfully planned and executed our battalion flying to Subic Bay in the Philippines for training there during the entire month of May 1977 and got us all back to Okinawa successfully.

As was custom then and perhaps even now, USMC infantry battalions liked to play a game we called “musical lieutenants.” That simply means that everybody had been in a particular billet or job such as platoon leader, etc., for many months and it was time to just move folks around to other jobs.

Lt. Matteson came all the way up to the NTA to give me the news himself. We were about to play musical lieutenants and I was taking his place on the battalion staff as S-4A and embarkation officer, a duty which also included a collateral duty of dining facility officer. (More on this subject some other time.)

I was already aware that 1st Battalion, 4th Marines had received orders from above to reinforce, prepare to embark and embark for US Naval Base, San Diego. Then, upon arrival, disembark, and load everything onto trucks and buses for the Mojave Desert of Twentynine Palms, California. Upon arrival there our orders were to begin developing desert warfare tactics for the USMC.

This is 1977. The communist bloc countries and the Soviet Union are still very much in place.?The Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall are still intact.?The traditional role of the USMC was defense of the northern flank of NATO which is Norway, Denmark, and Germany.?The Marines had little armor however we were tasked with changing from jungle to desert warfare using existing equipment. The Vietnam era was over, the Middle East was heating up, the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 was still fresh on people’s minds, and some smart people somewhere were looking to do something about it.

I asked Rick what was going on…why me? Why out of all the lieutenants that went to Embarkation school, why 2nd Lieutenant David Norris for this job? And why the hell was it so all important for him to come all the way up to the NTA to tell me?

Rick said he was allowed listen in on the conversations and was then told to inform me of my selection because “they” really thought I was the absolute best choice for the job. Bullshit!

I asked him who are “they?” and he said the battalion commander, LtCol. Fitts, the S-4, Lt. Haskins, and others. I responded that I didn’t know I was so famous and well liked. I had done well at embarkation school, but I was not the top graduate. I couldn’t help but wonder who I had pissed off this time.

1st Battalion, 4th Marines played their game of “musical lieutenants”, changed everyone’s job and I landed as the S-4A and Battalion Embarkation Officer on battalion staff.?Looking back, it was the best thing that happened to me because I had to become an all-around 360° leader to influence everybody and get all our equipment, rolling stock, and supplies on those ships on time.

Reinforcing the battalion meant we also had an artillery battery, a tank platoon, and a recon platoon coming with us including all their gear, including tanks, howitzers, trucks, etc.

Failure was not an option but it was a damn good possibility. However, I was up for the challenge and prepared myself to be the best battalion embarkation officer the USMC ever had.

I mean like, what else was I gonna do? I was going to be there until I was gone. Let’s do this.

Prior to fully preparing for embarkation, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division received another assignment. We became the designated ready battalion, prepared to embark a full reinforced company of Marines and equipment by ship, airplane, or helicopter anywhere in the South Pacific region. This was something akin to a QRF or quick reaction force.

This meant that we had one reinforced company of Marines ready to go at a moment’s notice, including equipment and supplies. Those supplies and equipment were officially listed in the order as to who was responsible for them, currently had them, and where on Okinawa they were located.

LtCol. Fitts ordered me to ensure those supplies and equipment, such as ammunition, concertina wire, C-Rations, pallets of water cans, field engineering equipment, motor transport assets, etc. were in fact prepared and staged, as ordered where everybody knew where specific items were located and what to do with them when the time came.

LtCol. Fitts was not going to assume that other Marine Corps support units had done their job. It was however my job to go lay eyes on it all and report back to him. I had three days to get that done.

I spent some time calling these other units, making appointments, and going to inspect what was supposed to be there. Most did not know what I was talking about.

Being the ready battalion was not new. It rotated between battalions of the 4th Marines and 9th Marines. The equipment, supplies, and gear that would also mount out with us was not something new. However, to nearly every place I went to inspect, it certainly appeared new to them.

Showing these units our orders and their orders to be ready seemed like something new to them. The excuses were many and varied.

“Nobody has ever done this type of inspection before.”

“What do you mean you are checking on this?”

“We’ll gather it if and when it is needed.”

“Who are you?”

“Get out of here!”

It was here that I learned that what is not inspected is not respected. Just because an order is given does not mean that it will be followed, even in the Marines.

Told to leave by some and a few even asked me to just keep quiet about it and give them time to get ready. I could not do that. I reported my findings to LtCol. Fitts. He took it from there. The only thing I could lay my hands on was one pallet of barbed wire.

Lucky for us we never left Camp Hanson. We did experience one battalion level drill that looked somewhat like the “Charlie Foxtrot” scene out of Clint Eastwood’s movie, Heartbreak Ridge.

Preparing a reinforced USMC infantry battalion for embarkation was not my first experience in cat herding however it was going to be the largest. ?

The first embarkation inspection was a few weeks away.?I was truly blessed with Sergeant Darcy. He was excellent, highly skilled, and professional at load planning for airplanes and ships. I did not have to worry about the mechanics of that part of the embarkation process. He would prepare the load plan.

I went to work on the embarkation order and got it approved up the chain of command. This was the easy part.?

Lt. Col. McIver, now the battalion commander issued the orders, and I set out to execute those orders.?I laid out the orders, plan, and timeline to the battalion staff, Headquarters and Supply Company, the line companies, motor transport, supply, the armory, communications, dining facility, the artillery battery, tank platoon, recon platoon, and everybody to prepare for the 4th Marine Regimental embarkation inspection.?All Marines and all equipment would be presented for inspection and counted against what was authorized by Tables of Organization and Equipment and other checklists.

I went around the battalion area answering questions, observing, helping, supervising, doing my thing, finding missing equipment for those missing stuff, using all the knowledge I had learned from embarkation school. I truly thought I was getting the job done.

I respectfully called upon officers and senior enlisted Marines of all ranks for help when I needed it, doing everything by the book. When Lt. Roy Koito, the 4th Marines Embarkation Officer came to inspect us... we failed miserably. The reasons were many. The excuses were none.

To say that Lt. Col. McIver was not pleased is a gross understatement. However, he encouraged me to lean into it even more.?Re-inspection was in a week and surely, we would be ready by then. We weren’t. We failed, again.?

Lt. Col. McIver totally vapor locked because we failed even after I had kept him informed of the progress that I thought we were making.?The next inspection would be from the 3rd Marine Division Embarkation officer.?Fail that one and my USMC career would come to an early end. No wonder this duty was considered the kiss of death to a USMC career.

After wearing me out, Lt. Col. McIver yelled for the Battalion Executive Officer, Major Charlie Adams, and the Battalion Sergeant Major, Robert Smith, to get in his office.?He told me to leave his office and wait in the passageway.?The XO and Sergeant Major appeared after only a few minutes and went to work making phone calls.?

Lt. Col. McIver appeared in the passageway and told me to come with him to the battalion meeting room as he had called a meeting of all company commanders, first sergeants, battalion staff officers and department heads as well as every senior staff non-commissioned officers from all those entities. They were to be here at battalion headquarters in less than 10 minutes. He was going to chew some serious butt because of my failure to prepare the battalion for embarkation and inspection.

Lt. Col. McIver looked somewhat like and had the mannerisms and voice of former President Richard Nixon.?I wish I could describe what happened next however my words will not adequately describe or communicate how somebody with the mannerisms and voice of a former president got through to those present the importance and urgency of not failing the Division Embarkation inspection.?

He literally placed his hands on my shoulders and told those present that “When you see this man, you don’t see gold 2nd lieutenant bars. You will see my silver oak leaves and that “If you do not do exactly as this man says when he says to do it there will be many people in this room experiencing unwanted, painful career changes and would not leave this island the way they came on it!”.?It was a very short meeting.

Yes, we passed inspection quite well and embarked for San Diego on time.

I learned a valuable leadership lesson although I did not know exactly what it was for many years. There is a difference between information and communication.?Information is handing out. Communication is getting through. I had been informing. Lt. Col. McIver got through.?His rank may have made the difference for me however like so many things, unless any endeavor is supported from the top down and bottom up, you end up wasting a lot of time, energy, and money. It was at this meeting that everyone’s head and ass wired together and quickly.

I also learned the difference between management and leadership.?I was managing the process not leading the process. Management is static and unmoving.?Leadership is dynamic and moves people forward.?

I would not fully understand why these lessons and experiences were so valuable until I left the USMC and entered the civilian world. I found application in the banking world in anything from resolving cease and desist orders to successful bank mergers and acquisitions.

I mention a lot of names writing this and have no idea where many of them are now.?Rick Matteson was killed in a building fire on the base at Twentynine Palms in 1979. Another building was later built on the sight of that fire, and it is named after him.

The people that cross your path, share life experiences with, and share bonds of brotherhood and friendship are invaluable. So valuable I can confidently say that everything I ever needed to know about banking, I learned as a grunt infantry officer that had opportunity to serve as a battalion embarkation officer in the United States Marine Corps, especially when it comes to ?leading people. It is so much about the relationships you build with people, communicating with people, and letting those people do their jobs. Semper Fi!

Postscript – Later, while serving again as a rifle platoon leader at Twentynine Palms for several months, the battalion was to stand inspection again. Embarkation was part of that inspection. LtCol. Meehan had me pulled out of my rifle platoon to prepare the battalion for that inspection. Reunited with Sgt. Darcy and again working with the officers and senior enlisted that knew me from embarking from Okinawa, we passed with flying colors.

For what it’s worth, I left the Marine Corps in 1981. However, what we started in the development of desert warfare training and tactics for the Marine Corps in 1978 was successful as evidenced by the success of Marines 10 years later in the first Gulf War to liberate Kuwait from Iraq and kicking Saddam Hussein’s butt. Semper Fi, Marines!