Jim's Army service

This is from our brother, Jim, who lives in Annapolis, Maryland. He and I were reminiscing about Clellie's Jeep, after I forwarded a YouTube clip to him that showed some soldiers dismantling a Jeep and putting it back together in five minutes.

Jim wrote:

"It reminds me of my army days - when they learned I was not going to make a career as an army officer (I was in charge of a school training mechanics to do major repairs on jeeps, trucks, personnel carriers and tanks) they sent me to Ft. A P Hill (in Virginia) to be in charge of the motor pool.

"Guard and reserve units do their two week summer training there, When units arrived for their two week training and were short on vehicles, our job was to issue them vehicles to fill out their needs

"We had no budget and no parts, but had a whole hillside filled with WWII jeeps, trucks and tanks. The challenge was to cannibalize parts from the bone yard to get enough jeeps and 2 1/2 ton trucks running to meet the needs. The permanent staff there already knew what to do, and didn't need me, except when the colonel came around with a complaint from one of the units.

"When things got slow during the end of the summer, I had them fix me up a jeep and a radio to use, and I drove all over A P Hill. The colonel had his network of informants, and I realized he always knew where I was when he sent his first sergeant in a jeep to find me on the other side of the post. My guys were supposed to call me on the radio, but ....

"I had learned to drive a tank at Aberdeen Proving Ground. One day at AP Hill we decided to try to get a tank running (I had taught the tank maintenance course at Aberdeen). Another guy and I got one running, and drove it over the hill from the motor pool - there is one place where US 301 goes through the middle of A P Hill - it's wooded and a person driving on 301 might never know he was in the middle of a military reserve.  We drove the tank out of the woods to the fence along the highway, and began rotating the turret and moving the gun up and down, and watched the startled drivers!!  The only thing that would have made them more startled is if we had painted a red star on the side of the tank!

"All that and I still got an honorable discharge!!

"ps. I think maybe I'd like to have an old jeep."