I returned from my second Vietnam tour to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and the 82nd Airborne Division. I was not airborne qualified and was generally referred to as a “Leg.”

Each day began with a two-mile run through sandy dirt trails in combat boots — before breakfast.  I hadn’t done PT (physical training) for several years and was not in top condition. When I started out, I probably couldn’t run more than a hundred yards before having to walk a while before running again. As time went by, however, I got to where I could run the whole two miles.  One day, when the company was reassembled, the company commander chided his airborne trooper for not running fast enough. He lamented “even Whipps is beating some of you.”  I was never sure if that was a compliment or an insult.

There was another warrant officer in my section who was rather thin.  When the company did their required jump (every 90 days) I had no trouble picking him out as he was always still in the air when everyone else had landed.

I finally decided that if I had to run two miles every day before breakfast, I might as well get the extra $90 for being on airborne status. So, I signed up for a short airborne training course but was transferred to the Continental Command Intelligence Center (CONTIC).

At CONTIC, I worked in a special intelligence section, keeping track of various areas for contingency planning.  One of the countries I was responsible for was Egypt. At the time, relations between Egypt and Israel were quite tense. We were quite aware of Egyptian forces massing on the border with Sinai, but I was pretty sure they weren’t stupid enough to take on the Israelis – they were. We were confined in our little sweaty little secure building from October 6th to October 27th during the Yom Kipper war.  We didn’t have shower facilities, so we got pretty ripe.