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Hello guys
This talk of Don Purdy really brings back some memories. He was the HHC 1sg when I graduated Ranger School in July 86 and arrived at 3/75 at Benning. He was a scary guy from the get-go....
DP: Are you married, Sgt Kennedy?
JK: Negative, First Sergeant.
DP: Girlfriend? Whatever, you should get rid of her...I knew it was over with my last wife when I came home. Even the curtains were gone. Damn woman took EVERYTHING!
(at this point, it is 1630 and he dozes off for a few seconds)
DP (awakening):Mmm, Hooooah.....Who the hell are you, son? (eyeing me)
JK: I'm SGT Kennedy, First Sergeant. I've been assigned to your company straight out of Ranger School.
DP: Hell, son, I'm going to put you in the supply room with Sgt XXX until you get your strength back. I send you to a line platoon now those Rangers will kill you! You married, Sgt Kennedy?
JK (with a stong sense of deja vu): Negative, First Sergeant.
DP: Got a girlfriend? You ought to get rid of her, she'll take everything you got.
"The Purd" was a legend. After I went to B Co, 3d Platoon in August 86 (to Doug Greenway's squad: he would go on to great things as a CSM) he would see me around the 3/75 compound and ask what I though of making all Rangers carry their weapon 24/7, with popup targets scattered throughout the BN area "just to keep the men sharp."
After I became a squad leader (as an E5) he would be at the front gate and go run PT with one of the line company squads, this being his time as 3/75 acting sergeant major. Great guy. We were at Bragg in '87 and Al Lamb and I were flipping a coin to see who would walk safety with him on one of the life fire Hogans Alley SOT ranges. He was hell on wheels with an MP5!
I was at Toelz from October 88 until the Stuttgart move, all my time in A co. I went back to Bragg in August 92, left the army in August 93 and two years later was in medical school.
Those times in Toelz were great, certainly one of the memorable periods of my life. Used to shoot at the rod and gun club a lot, especially with John Welton.
You guys stay safe!
Doc Kennedy
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