The Army War College was another great assignment. The post at Carlisle Barracks did a superb job taking care of students; Bonnie and I lived in a four bedroom home within bicycling distance of the college and walking distance of the commissary.

USAWC was conducted in Seminars of about 12 students and three USAWC faculty members, so we got to know these fellow students and their families very well. The seminars were created to represent the various components of the Army; for example, I was the engineer in the sections I was assigned to, and was expected to bring that perspective into our discussions. We had lots of section parties and other social events that made our time at Carlisle Barracks especially rewarding.

The school emphasized strategic studies, and one of its great strengths was the number and quality of guest speakers who came to share their insights on national defense and foreign relations.

There was a creek that went through the base, and it was possible to float down a part of it on an inner tube - which we did. And there were fish in the creek, though you wouldn't know it from our fishing efforts.

Our quarters were pretty decent: a three story home. Betwwen our home and the one beside us was an apple tree. For Halloween we put a table under the tree and it had a lighted pumpkin on top. The kids easily figured out that was where to collect their candy. However, when they reached for their candy, they didn't know that I was up in the tree in a super realistic gorilla outfit, and I growled and reached for them. Good fun and a pretty scary night for the kids!!!

Pennsylvania had a small skiing area not too far away. The hill (not large enough to be called a mountain) had all of about 600 feet of vertical drop. But we got skis from the base at almost no cost, so it was a fun thing to do.

We had lots of sports activities as part of USAWC. I played softball, basketball (not well), and soccer. We also played volleyball and I was the student coordinator for that sport. One of the big events each academic year was Sports Day, when the other senior service schools came in for a day of fun and sports competitions. We wanted to come up with USAWC volleyball team to play in Sports Day, and we had trouble finding 6-8 good players; we had about five. But we did have a Marine Colonel on the staff who was passionate about the sport, and he worked with us diligently all year to prepare us for the competition. We did pull together a team, and we did win the event without losing even one game. I also played on the CGSC soccer team.

Another of the great activities was the day the whole class went to Gettysburg and got an up close look at the battlefield with the assistance of the Center for Military History, using the actual battle reports of the combatants. Really interesting being read the battle report from the person who was on the scene over 150 years ago. I've always been a big Civil War fan, and have visited Gettysburg a number of times, so this was a great day.

During my time in service, the Army had two ways to document an officer's performance and potential. First was the Officer Evaluation Report (OER) that was used by supervisors in "regular" command and staff assignments. The second was Academic Evaluation Reports (AER) that documented how one did in military schooling. AERs don't mean much unless one earned some type of recognition, as in graduating at the top of the class. (My AER from CGSC noted that I graduated in the top 10% and that probably meant something.) But the War College was a gentlemen's course and one's Academic Advisor just had to fill in a small block on the form that could fit around 100 words. So when I met with my advisor near the end of the school year, he showed me the form, and it was filled with boilerplate - a bunch of good words that were nice but didn't mean much. I asked if the words could be changed to reflect my participation in many of the sports programs, and my contributions there. He was taken aback, and said he would have to ask his boss. Yep, they changed to words to what I wanted, and from that point on I got to tell everyone that my official file included OERs, AERs, and one Athletic Evaluation Report.

Prior to graduating, I learned that I would be returning to Europe and to troops, and that was fine with Bonnie and me.