Note in all the above how important is the part about "doing well as a company commander." In an army brigade the person who decides whether or not a company commander is doing well is the brigade commander, as advised by the respective battalion commander. But the brigade commander is expected to differentiate among the many company commanders, so all can't be rated as walking on water. With Jim Velezis spending a lot of his time with community duties, how would he get any feedback on the many company commanders spread throughout the corps area except by records and reports? I decided I would be his eyes and ears, and I visited companies. I don't think the battalion commanders were especially happy to have me in their battalion areas, but they didn't have much choice. The XOs were mostly glad to see me (note the phrase above about serving successfully as a battalion executive officer), and I hoped that most of the battalion commanders came to largely view me as a sounding board and a friend in court.

I do believe the company commanders liked my visits, as they asked for me to come. In doing this I was probably the most "frequent flier" of the corps aviation company that supported the brigade. After each visit I drafted a short note for Jim's signature to be sent down through the respective battalion commander to the captain expressing the good news coming from my visit to his company. So company commanders soon learned that here was a Colonel - not in their rating chain - who would look at their programs, offer comments and suggestions as appropriate, and go back to their Senior Rater, Colonel Velezis, with (only) good stories about them and their programs.

While with the brigade, Bonnie and I got linked up with some German couples, and we were invited to join their Keggling Club. Keggling is the German version of bowling, but there are nine pins and the balls are the size of duck pins balls. Keggling is very social, and the Kegelbahns (bowling establishments) have dining tables right there at the lanes. Our German friends had been doing this for something like 10 years. A little eating, a little drinking, and a little bowling. One difference in the German game is that the sweeper can be adjusted to re-set the pins whenever you want, leading to a number of different games that can be played on the alleys. We had a very good time with this.

I was promoted to colonel while with the 7th Engineer Brigade. This was my third "below-the-zone" promotion. Again exhilarating, but humbling. Bonnie and I hired a streetcar - yes a real streetcar but one made for such events - to travel the streets of Stuttgart. It was called the "PartieWagon." Bonnie made and brought on board all kinds of food and snacks, and we also loaded it with beverages. So there we were, travelling the busy streets just having a grand old time, and being sure to wave at the people on the "other" streetcars that we passed on the route - and we had some fun with their reactions. We did the PartieWagon in two back-to-back sessions to accommodate all our friends.

One of the extra duties I came down with was to do an investigation. Investigations in the Army can be done by IGs, by specially appointed officers, and on a less formal basis. As I recall, my appointment was on a less formal basis, but an investigation is an investigation. The person being investigated was the Facilities Engineer of the American community housing a forward deployed brigade of one of our stateside divisions. Okay, I went to work, driving to and from the community and asking questions. I think there were some alleged irregularities in housing policy or procedures. The Facilities Engineer was a lieutenant colonel, and he answered my questions in a straightforward manner. He didn't try to explain anything away and didn't try to pass the buck to anyone else. But the more I talked to people, the more I became convinced that I wasn't sent there to investigate this poor Facilties Engineer, I was there because, as I was to determine, the brigade commander, an Army One-Star, was exercising undue influence in his command, either breaking rules or in effect making his people break rules. Serious stuff. I went to the Corps Chief of Staff and asked what to do, since this was a change of events. He said "call it like you see it." I did, gently as it had to be in the context of my original investigation, but one didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what I meant. But nothing happened and I soon went on my way to my next assignment. Many years later I learned that the Corps Commander shared my assessment, and was about to relieve the One-Star. But a crisis came up that required his full attention and by the time he was "back-to-business" the One-Star was ready to rotate.

There is one other thing of note in my duties with the 7th Engineer Brigade that few know about, but I'm pretty proud of. I fixed the publications system in the brigade by working with the Army's publication center in Baltimore to make sure each unit got the right publications and in the right numbers for its equipment and mission. In general, Army publications like field manuals and technical manuals get to a unit by a "push" or "pull" system. The publication is pushed to a unit if the unit has its standing requisition in order that matches unit equipment and density to required publications. For example, if the unit's standing requisition indicates it has 10 D-7 bulldozers, then when there is a new D-7 bulldozer manual or changes to the existing manual the unit will get 10 copies sent to it. Sounds simple, except that units tend to not get all their equipment listed, or list the wrong equipment, or list the right equipment but in the wrong quantities. Then they have to "pull" for the publications by requesting them. Well, the brigade got all its basic requisitions correct which meant that most publications would be pushed to them, the way the Army designed the system to work. In summary, while most units struggle to get the right publications for maintenance and training, this was no longer true for the 7th Engineer Brigade. This was a "fix" that would benefit the units of the brigade for many years to come.

And this assignment made me very prepared for my next.