Payback is a medevac......

While attending Green Beret School, candidates were allowed to receive mail, a real morale booster, as long as it wasn't a Dear John letter. One evening, late, I was summoned to the headshed (headquarters) at Camp MacKall. When you are summoned to the HQ there is a protocol you go through when you enter. You bang on the door, get permission to enter, walk in and stand three feet from the Sergeants desk and report in, "Sergeant, Captain Ochsenbein reporting as ordered". Now typically an officer does not report to a Non-Commissioned Officer but in this course you did. When in Rome, you do as Romans do, you report to the Sergeant. I was in the cooperate and graduate mode. If they said jump, I said how hi.....Until now.

In the Sergeants possession was a letter from my wife and it was obvious there was contraband in it. I knew what it was because I asked her to send it and being the good wife she is, she sent a ton of it. A little more descretion would have been in order but it was the thought that counts. The Staff Sergeant, named Sergeant McFad...., showed me the letter and told me to open it in front of him. I told him I wouldn't do it. Well the look on ol' McFad's face quickly indicated he was not accustom to being told no or at least he hadn't heard it in a while. I knew then Army Daze was setting in. He said, Captain you are going to open it and you are going to do it right now. I said, no, I'm not opening it, I have rights and as a matter of fact you have to deliver it because if you don't you are violating federal law. He looked at me like, are you BSing me or not. I knew then I had him, so I thought. McFad looked at me and said open it. I said no. He said, Captain, get down and give me 10 (for those of you not familiar with the lingo, give me 10, it means give me 10 push-ups). I jumped down, knocked out ten and jumped back up. He said open it. I said no and the process started all over again. This went on until I couldn't do a damn push up. He then had an M-60 machine gun brought in and told me to hold it at port arms. The M-60 weighs about 23 pounds without ammunition and it gets real heavy, real quick. I stood there for about five minutes and he told me to open the letter. I said no. He said, go outside and run around the building and then report back in. I did that and reported back in. McFad said open it. I said no. He said get down and give me ten. I did and when you do push-ups with a weapon you have to put the weapon on the back of your hands. That was sweet because the M-60 was damn heavy. I got back up, (I wasn't jumping back up any more). He said open it. I said no. So, there I went running around the building again. Well this went on for about two and a half hours. I was threatened to be kicked out, I was threatened bodily harm, you name, I was threatened with it. But I didn't give up. Finally they told me to go back to my shack. When I left I told them they either had to deliver the mail or send it back. He said the letter would be sent back.

Well I later found out after I had completed the Green Beret course that what I had done by refusing to open the letter created quite a buzz around headquarters back at Bragg. I became known as the renegade Captain. I was shocked to find out the powers contemplated on removing me from the course because of my obstinance and failure to follow instructions. General Lutz caught wind, stepped in and told the Colonel that I was the type of guy he wanted in the Green Berets and to knock the crap off about removing me from the course but to not back off making it tough on me. Well they didn't back off. They dogged me the rest of Phase I. It sucked but I wasn't going to let them win. Well at the conclusion of Phase I, as we (there were just a few of us left, we lost 77% of our class) were leaving the compound, SSG McFad gave me the letter. I smiled, said thanks, opened it and ate some of the best tasting beef jerky I had ever tasted. I split it with my team. There were only four of us left after starting with 22.

Now jump forward about two and a half years. Lots of water under the bridge. I was now back at Bragg and assigned to 7th Special Forces Group. We had four huey helicopters assigned to the detachment. I was flying a mission one day in support of the SOT compound at Mott Lake. We referred to the compound as the Mott Lake compound. SOT stood for Special Operations Training and that's all I'll say about that. On this day, as part of the training, we were going to do some STABO training. STABO standing for Stabalized Tactical Airborne Operations. It involved lifting up four guys who were attaced to the ends of ropes. The other ends of course were hooked into the helicopter. The ropes were about 125 feet long. It was a clear cool day, about 45 degrees outside. We landed at the compound and I had my co-pilot give the flight briefing to those we would be working with. I was standing in the background and low and behold I saw that SSG McFad...was going through the training. A big smile came over my face and I thought, payback time (payback is a medavac). We conducted several routine STABO lifts and then it was SSG McFads turn. I felt sorry for the other three guys with him because what was getting ready to happen was not going to be pretty. It was not going to be a routine STABO. I picked the guys up to about 100' above the trees and immediately flew over to Mott Lake, which was less than a quarter mile away. I brought the aircraft to a hover right over the middle of the lake and started a slow descent. When it dawned on the guys on what I was doing, they made a futal attempt to climb the ropes. It was impossible. Well I dunked them in Mott Lake like tea bags. I skied them around in the lake for another five minutes, making sure their heads stayed above the water. I didn't want to drown McFad. That thought never entered my mind. I then took McFad for a twenty minute flight, ensuring he got plenty cold and he did. When I took them back to the compound they could not stand up from the cold and the leg straps had cut off the circulation to their legs. They flopped down on the ground like fish. Needless to say they were pissed and was wondering what the hell was going on. As I landed the aircraft next to them, others were rubbing their leggs to get the circulation going. A Captain ran over to the aircraft wanting to know what was going on. I told him to hang tight and that I would be over to explain everything. I walked over to the gathered crowd and they were not happy. Everyone was talking all at once and I told everyone to shut up. I immediately apologized to the other three guys on what had just happened to them. I told them this was SSG McFads fault and they could blame him and take it out on him later. I looked a McFad and said, "Do you remember me? Do you remember the letter opening incident at Camp MacKall?" He said he did. I said, "You know, SSG McFad, we live in a very small community and you should never screw with your own people because what comes around, goes around and "it just went around". Payback is a medavac". He understood exactly what I was saying and so did the others. The only thing SSG McFad said to me was, "Sir, that was a good one." I looked at the crowd, said get the next four ready, turned around, went to the aircraft and fired it up. It was time to complete the days training. Not another word was said. I often wondered what the other guys did to McFad.

SSG McFad....is a great soldier and we ran into each other throughout the world on different occasions. We became good friends and I'm glad he's on our side. Army Daze.