I arrived at Schweinfurt Germany in October 1962, with orders in hand making me a combat rifleman. HQ&HQ was were I reported and the unit was out in the field. Excepting a few men consisting of a basic skeleton crew. I tossed my gear in a room knowing I bunked in a guys bunk, whom was out in the field. Days later, the unit returned and the first sergeant wanted me to come to his office, known as the orderly room. There he had my army records in hand and told me got the okay to keep me there as opposed to sending me to C company to do duty as a rifleman. By the way, I got picked to stay in HQ/HQ and ended up in the Orderly room as the CO unit clerk.I was able to learn a lot being that close to the commanding officer. This really is not my story but the story of the legend. William E.Depuy. I mention my arrival since when the men returned, I heard them talking of a Col. DePuy as if he was the return of General George Patton. I did not know who this Col. was. I asked what the big deal was. I was told story upon story of his leading our unit in Germany. I was serving under the Col. that took over his job. I did not ever really get to know this Col. well since he had his offices in the building next to our building. This story of DePuy is in the record. DePuy is the man that changed the Army forever. DePuy is who came up with the doctrine. I started when Colin Powell got to be famous, hearing he had the Powell Doctrine.I was amazed. I knew what DePuy had done.How did his credit end up with Colin Powell. DePuy was a tiny man. Weighed less than 145 pounds. But his presence was that of a giant of man. Depuy departed Germany and headed to the USA to get his first star. As he later was shipped to Vietnam, he rose very quickly up the ladder of Generals. He became the aide of General Westmoreland. He took over the Big Red One in Vietnam, a famous division. DePuy was well known for keeping great officers with him and getting rid of the ones he did not feel comfortable with. Some Senior General worried he was canning some good officers. DePuy never backed down. So, be ready to keep returning to this site.Bookmark the PDF site and study what happened. Enjoy http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/SelectedPapersofGeneralWilliamDepuy.pdf
