General Discussion

I retired from the Army in 1994, called back to active duty, released in 1995.

I had spent all my career in troop assignments with a few assignments where the organization was half-and-half military-civilian.

My last assignment was as a Directorate Chief in the Pentagon with a heavily-civilian workforce, including a number of young women.

One of my first tasks after about four months there was to award medals to some of the military and civilians. During the ceremony, an aide reads the award citation and I then pinned the medal on the recipient's chest. I had never pinned a medal on a female's chest and was really worried about it. I mean, REALLY, REALLY worried about it. Wife could tell something was bothering me, she asked, I explained, she said "Just hand it to them."

So I told my secretary what I would do -- pin it on the men, hand it to the ladies -- because I knew she would spread the word.

Ceremony went off without a hitch, though I noticed all the women receiving a medal did their best to keep a straight face.

I did that for every awards ceremony I conducted with women.

Now, even 30 years after retiring, I occasionally hear from one of the women who worked for me and they ALWAYS -- with a big smile -- remind me of my handing them their medals.

A couple of them told me later on the day of the first time I did it "Colonel, just pin on the medal!! Everyone else does!! But I understand and I really appreciate what you did."