Hi Jack,

After I wrote you I went back and was reading your stories,and  clicked on a familiar name(Dobson) and there we are...The Cco.group picture!! WOW!!! as I studied it every one of those guys came to me as though it were yesterday!!!! I recently saw Cpl Zane Dick's picture on the PARATROOPER page(the name fit)he gave me alot of shit one day...

Your stories are as accurate as they could be, and very intertaining as well as educational.IF I remember correctly Sgt.Drew came along about midway into basic.I think he replaced Sgt.Clay as field 1st...Kellerher was in 82nd.MP Co.(cops) I was in 82nd.PM Co.(rigger)(red hat)I wasn't big enough to be a cop at 5'6" 135lbs.....There were 3 others from the 76th that became riggers,Lincoln,Sallis,& Tankersley....Plumb from NY City was only 16 and had used a stolen ID to get in the Army.About the 2nd week of basic I heard him crying late one night,I asked him what was wrong and he sobbed out the whole story to me and was going to the CO in the morning and try to get out.I tried to talk him into sticking it out and not to let them beat him.Being that I was 4yrs older,he accepted my pep talk.However,he gave up in our 12th week and was sent home.In 1963 at Lakewood NJ I was jump master for a stick of 9 first jump students (skydivers) and (who) showed his smiling face???None other than Pvt Plumb !!!! He told me how much he wished he had taken my advice back in 53 and stuck it out.Said he had to go back into the Army the day he turned 17.5 and had to through whole bag of shit all over again....Funny how I have forgotten his real name!! Did you forget about the 20 or so that went AWOL and DESERTED on the first Charlie Co payday ??I think there were 2or3 that never showed up again.....The day LT.Morris cut off his ring finger by jumping up to pull down a overhead door that didn't come down but his finger did..We were sitting on the rocks for class in frontof the door (they didn't believe in benches or chairs).. ..At KY lake Lincoln and I got on with it one night and he got behind me and busted my head open with his M-1,Took 12 stitches.I refused to bring charges at the provost,thinking I'd get him back later...I never did,and we became good friends the rest of our Army career.....All in all I liked the Army and mostly the great men I had the privilege to serve with.I would have stayed if I hadn't gotten married and started having young"uns.....It must have been in my blood though because,the first thing I did was get a job with Airforce as a civilian as a parachute rigger and thats when I started jumping again.I worked for the Airforce 7yrs,until I had enough of their ckicken shit( was in the AF reserve at the time also)I then resigned and opened my own para-loft and jump center.I managed to raise 6 kids,accumulate 6300 jumps with no broken bones and 11000hrs flight time.I sold my business and retired professional parachuting in 84...Spend most of my time now inspecting and working on aircraft...I still make a jump now and then for the hell of it...I'm going on 68yrs and still blessed with good health.Well, enough of my bull shit for now,let me hear about you.Keep up the stories they are great..Am e-mailing some photo's,do what you want with them...Sorry,I only had so few of C Co.