Remembering Major Hutchinson

About two weeks ago, I wrote about the Vietnam Veteran who was killed on duty in Iraq, Major Steven Hutchison, and went into the history books as the oldest soldier killed in that war. Today Teri Weaver of the Stars and Stripes interviews some of the troops who had the honor of serving with the major;

Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., spent the next few months beating them at runs, hours at the gym and return trips to the dessert line. He won them over with profane stories and practical jokes. One example of his humor involved a tampon delicately hung from the front of an up-armored truck as recognition for exceptional work among his men.

When all else failed, he caught them in bear hugs and fed them butterscotch candies. His favorites were Werther’s Originals.

All of you Vietnam veterans will recognize yourselves in the major;

Hutchison retired as a major in 1988, when Nestor was 7. Two decades later, he found himself in a different Army, one he thought paid too much attention to details that did little to make a good soldier.

It took him three months to put a sling on his weapon, an everyday requirement Hutchison couldn’t bear because it made the gun clink and clatter. The enemy will hear you, he would tell the younger guys.

He’d often strut to the shower in nothing more than tighty-whiteys, even with females around. When he passed younger soldiers on runs, he did so in non-regulation short-shorts, with pride. He never, ever secured his chin strap on his Kevlar helmet.

Once, he was so mad at the Army’s attention to uniform detail, he didn’t wear a T-shirt to a base ceremony.

Category: Blue Skies