Part 2: Finding My Place in the US Army 1/27/2021
Part 2: Finding My Place in the US Army 1/27/2021
by Dr. Jim Herod
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On July 5, 1964 and with three college degrees on my vitae, time had come to fulfill the obligation that came with my May, 1959 Army officer’s commission. I arrived in Petersburg, Virginia on July 3. Post personnel gave me necessary papers to be on Post and to allow me to move into bachelor officer’s quarters that afternoon. July 4 was a needed day of rest and a day for a long run after that 800 mile solitary drive from South Alabama. My wife had prepared a nicely starched and ironed uniform in which to report, but I didn’t get to wear it much that first day. In fact, I didn’t get to wear much of anything that day. I passed all those exams, and the Army decided to keep me.
On July 6, we met in a tiered classroom. Maybe July 5 standing around in our underwear had been our first day on active duty, but this day felt like the real beginning. We stood when the major walked in. He was a crisp looking guy with a bunch of metals on his chest. The creases down the front of his pants were sharp enough to cut butter. He certainly didn’t use the barber I had used a few days earlier. The major introduced himself, told us to be seated, and welcomed us to active duty.
Jim arrives on post in 1964
I felt at home. I certainly knew what it was like to be a student in a tiered classroom. And, I knew what it felt like to be standing down where the major was. My classmates? I was four or five years older than they were. I had evaluated guys just like them with A’s, B’s, and C’s for the past four years. I was comfortable in this class with my new cohorts. Because my PhD thesis advisor had been a veteran, he had not only listened to my revealing where my research led, but also warned me to prepare myself physically for where I now was.
Near the end of this officer’s basic, I got a call from what was to be my company commander in the Automotive Tank Agency. He greeted me cordially and talked to me for about ten minutes about what my responsibilities would be. Then he asked me what my background was. I knew that my growing up in rural Alabama was not what he needed to hear. "In May," I said. "I received a PhD in mathematics." For a moment, the telephone line seemed dead. Then, "You’ve been assigned to the wrong place."
I was reassigned to the Joint Forces Defense Atomic Support Agency with headquarters in New Mexico. I was an Army officer reporting to a Marine Major. I worked under the direction of an Air Force Colonel at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory and lived next door to a Navy Admiral. At one point, I flew to Washington about once a month to work with a programmer at Goddard Space Flight Center on Fridays and with Air Force Colonel Jasper Welch in his home office on Saturdays. I would coauthor papers in geo-physics with Colonel Welch and a civilian. Once again, I was participating in research.
There is one final point in this section about the Army deciding how to use me. We were still doing underground testing in the '60's. After my clearance was high enough, I was offered an opportunity to observe an explosion. I considered. If I were an engineer, I certainly should say yes. But I was an analyst and our group was interested in particles scattering in the atmosphere. Hopefully, there would be no atmospheric interaction. "Thank you, sir. I will be sure that we are set up here in the lab to receive and analyze the data."
I was an Army officer about to work as a mathematician and about to learn a bit about what happens when you pop a nuke.
Dr. Jim Herod served in the Army from 1964-1966, was a visiting professor at the United States Military Academy from 1981-1982, and is a professor emeritus at Georgia Tech.
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