.
 One night in the spring of 1974 when I was sqdn duty
officer, I was almost mistaken for the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) while
at B Co., 75th Infantry. Remember the SLA and Patty Hearst? At that time
B Co., 75th Infantry (Ranger) was attached to the 3d Squadron, 5th Cavlary
and located on North Fort in a fairly isolated area. In addition to pulling
duty in the sqdn HQ on main post, we were required to drive out to B Co.
several times each night to check on things.
Apparently
the FBI had received a tip that the SLA was going to strike Ft. Lewis to
steal weapons, ammo, explosives, etc. One of the likely spots the FBI thought
they might hit was B Co. because the arms room was sort of isolated and there
was always lots of "good stuff" there. That night they had 3 UH-1Hs loaded
with armed troops in the air over the post at all times for fast reaction.
They also had ground stakeouts at several "likely" target locations with
local police, MPs, FBI, and troops all armed to the teeth surrounding these
places. The police and highway patrol were blocking all roads into and out
of the post.
I
knew none of that. About 0200 I got my driver and jeep. We headed over to
check things out at B Co. As we drove up to the building where the arms room
and CQ were, headlights flashed on and vehicles started up on both sides
and behind us. They sped over to our jeep, skidded to a stop in the gravel,
and who knows how many guys, armed to the teeth, jumped out and ran over
to us. They grabbed my driver by the throat and literally yanked him out
of the jeep. They threw him on the ground face up and stuck a loaded rifle,
with bayonet affixed, up to his face.
On
my side of the jeep the soldiers recognized me as an officer (is he really
a LT or is it just a disguise?) I was politely, but firmly, ordered out of
the jeep and they demanded ID. There were easily a dozen guys with weapons
leveled and pointed at us who were taking this thing very seriously. My driver
all but went into shock as he certainly never expected anything like this!
I just got mad.
Once our
ID had been established, including a phone call back to the duty NCO at sqdn
HQ just to be sure we were who we said we were, they apologized and told
us the story. Overhead was circling one of the Hueys at maybe a few hundred
feet. We assured them that we were not the SLA nor did we know where Patty
Hearst was!
They thought
that we were in disguise to get inside and disarm the guards so the rest
of the SLA could drive up and load up the goodies. We laughed about this
the rest of the night. The SLA never did show up at Ft. Lewis. If they had,
it seems that things would have turned out differently. The rangers of B
Co. were amused that anyone would think that their weapons were easy prey!!!!!!
--Wade
Lnenicka
wlnenicka@printpack.com |
