2:55 | Carlene Knoll-Arambula recalls a valuable teamwork lesson learned during Navy bootcamp. Provided by Bob Stevens, the Veterans' Forum.
He was college bound. Alex Adkins had decided not to reenlist and instead entered Cape Fear Community College. He was doing well but had a nagging feeling he should return to service. He transferred to Texas A&M for law school but there was a problem. It wasn't a law school, it was a football school.
After West Point, his first assignment was with the 82nd Airborne. There, as a young Lieutenant, Dan Allyn learned to trust his experienced NCOs and be a sponge as they dispensed wisdom. His unit was training in the Sinai Peninsula when the alert came. Something was happening in Grenada. Where's that?
"You can't go." Don Feeney was a Green Beret on an A-Team and he had asked his team sergeant about this new unit that was forming, the Delta Force. Well, that just made him more determined to get in on this new unit. After a little recon of the compounds in the area, he located them and inserted himself to become one of the original members.
After the Battle of Mogadishu had resulted in heavy Somali casualties, the rules of engagement were tightened for subsequent operations. Alex Adkins was part of an amphibious force that came to evacuate UN forces and he had this constant dilemma. Can I fire back now? How about now? Part 2 of 3.
The men were so loaded down with their kits and full rucksacks that they had to be helped up the ramp to the plane. Dan Allyn and his men were on the way to Grenada where the fight was already on. The mission? Find the Cubans.
The role for Delta Force in the Grenada operation involved a night assault. They prepped and waited on the runway. And they waited and they waited. Finally, after the State Department was finished messing everything up, they moved out in daylight and their helicopters were badly shot up. Don Feeney's craft had the least damage and they landed to assist the team members who were shot down.
When Alex Adkins got to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, the first stop was Okinawa. There was a memorable incident involving a typhoon, a swimming pool and beer. His enlistment period was just about up when he extended to deploy to Somalia.
Dan Allyn and his Ranger company were scheduled for leave but they got the alert. You're going to Panama. They departed with winter ice on the tarmac and headed for the tropics. When he parachuted down to the airport they were to secure, he had a hard landing but got it together and began directing the mission. Part 1 of 2.
After a career as a paratrooper, a Ranger, a Green Beret and a member of the elite Delta Force, Don Feeney retired from the service and started his own consulting company. Their specialty was training security personnel but they developed another service, recovering children who had been wrongly taken by a foreign parent.
The Marines were loaded up with less than lethal weapons. Alex Adkins figured that the president, the Joint Chiefs and the State Department were worried about a bloodbath when they landed in Somalia to evacuate UN forces under siege by warlords. Even the Cobras had flares instead of high explosives. Part 3 of 3.
Not long after the firing started, most of Manuel Noriega's soldiers shed their uniforms and blended into the populace. Maybe that guy wasn't worth dying for. While Dan Allyn's unit was searching for holdouts, they found a warehouse filled with new toys that were slated for the families of his henchmen. Why don't we play Robin Hood? Part 2 of 2.
The war movies and TV shows of Don Feeney's youth inspired him to join the Army at seventeen in 1970. He started out in the 82nd Airborne but the reformation of the Rangers caused him to go that direction. That was where he was made into a real soldier.
Desert Shield was kicking off when Alex Adkins reported to boot camp. His first unit was a reserve outfit that had been activated for the war and never deployed. But he was an active duty grunt so the Marines had another plan for him.
Life was fine in the 82nd but Dan Allyn was being prodded to apply for the Ranger Regiment by a commander he respected. He did, he was accepted, and it was life changing. He began to learn what leadership was all about. On a personal note, he was made company commander of the same company with which his father-in-law had served.
If you were still an active duty Marine, I wouldn't have started dating you. That what his wife told Alex Adkins but it was too late. They were married. He was a volunteer firefighter for a while, has a dual career in sales and as a pastor and he attends every unit reunion. She's down with that.
Don Feeney first went to Sudan to train their counter-terrorism unit along with another Delta Force member. They wrapped up their work and came home to Fort Bragg. Then he was told, pack your stuff, you're going back. Why? Five American missionaries had been taken hostage. You need to go get them.
Through the Warrior Reunion Foundation, Alex Adkins was able to reconnect with his buddies and they have a reunion every year. On a hunting trip in Africa, he met South African vets who meet every month but their circumstance was a little different.
After commanding a company in the 1st Ranger Battalion, Dan Allyn moved to Ranger Regiment headquarters to serve as the assistant S3. During that time, Desert Shield and Desert Storm happened. At first, there was little Ranger participation because it was, chiefly, an armor battle. As the threat from Scud missiles increased, they were dispatched to help eliminate the threat.
Cover me. That means something different to police officers than it does to grunts. That made for a lively time when some Marines were assigned to help police during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. Alex Adkins was off duty when his unit did that but he was there for Mogadishu. Some guys in his unit listened to techno but those guys were weird. Normal guys listened to Metallica.
Dan Allyn returned to the 82nd Airborne as a brigade S4 and it was there that he got to know legendary Ranger John Abizaid who was his brigade commander. He was enjoying this assignment but then his friend Ken Keen let him know that command of the 3rd Ranger Battalion was up for grabs.
The Global War on Terrorism kind of upended the concept of the Marine Expeditionary Unit. Now, Marines were flying to war. For Alex Adkins, the problem with these wars is that were never clearly designed goals. This led to perpetual war and staggering human costs. That includes his closest friend who committed suicide decades after his service.
Dan Allyn was sent to command the 18th Airborne Corps but he was told it would only be for a short while. Puzzled about that, he was doing that job when he got the news. He was being promoted to four star and would lead Army Forces Command, a plum assignment. For his final post he was made the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, a fitting end to his career.
On his way back from Mogadishu, Alex Adkins had the pleasure of a Tiger Cruise. This allows male relatives to sail with the Marines from Hawaii back to San Diego. His father joined him and got to fire many weapons from the fan tail. Where was all this ammo when I was in Mogadishu?
Dan Allyn, who retired in 2017 as the second highest ranking officer in the US Army, would now have all the time in the world for his family. Two children and three grandchildren now had his full attention.
On his way to work, Alex Adkins heard a brief news story on the radio about a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers. He didn't think much about it but when he got to work, everyone was gathered around a television. It was the beginning of an era.
Take advantage of every opportunity you get when you have the privilege of leading soldiers. That's the advice of Dan Allyn, retired US Army general. He's not worried about the future because of the deep bench full of talent that is there. Oh, and make sure you follow and apply the Ranger Creed at all times and in all ways.
There was absolutely nothing PC about the Line Crossing Ceremony. Dating back centuries, the tradition of Wogs becoming Shellbacks is best left unspoken in polite company but Alex Adkins shares a bit about his rite of passage.
He went to hear the West Point recruiter speak because it excused him from a lab but Dan Allyn was so impressed that he thought he might go for it. After his mom revealed a secret about that, he was even more determined.
When Alex Adkins reported to 1st LAI, it was deserted. The unit had deployed to Desert Storm and when they did return, he instantly became an unworthy boot. The unit then combined with the DEA to search for drug traffickers in the California desert which made for some unusual interactions with the locals.
He made a mistake getting out. When Brent Gulick got back from Vietnam he was so tense and angry that he left the service. Within a couple of months he joined a reserve Special Forces unit at Fort Bragg and began their specialized training. This led him to Europe and the Reforger exercises. He studied the movements of Soviet tanks at the Fulda Gap and met a charming lady at a little cottage in the mountains.
