We checked in at the headquarters building where we were to begin the re-write of the defense plan of Liverno. The commanding officer, an LTC, was on leave so I sought out the first sergeant.
He did not look like a first sergeant, more like Homer Simpson. He was waiting for his admin personnel to return from their morning run. His job I figured was to fix coffee and get the doughnuts ready, which both were in ample supply.
His office was a mess. Field gear was piled in a corner, he was waring sweat pants, and a T-shirt adorned with a picture of Elvis.
We were offered coffee and doughnuts. He asked what he could do for us. I suggested he could show me to a work area and provide us with the current defense plan. No problem he said.
He took us down the hall to a large room, punched in a security code, and asked if the room seemed adequate. It had all the necessary things: pencils, chairs, tables, paper, television, couch, easy chair, coffee pot and of course doughnuts. In the corner was a file drawer with the words secret written in red across the front. The drawer was already pulled out.
He retrieved the appropriate file. I asked for the combination to the file and a sign in/out sheet. He said the combination lock was not working but he was not concerned if they had an inspection because he had a work order on file. As far as the sign in/out sheet went, they never used one. He did give me the door combination however. It was nice to be trusted.
I took the folder and read through the plan while my men watched Italian television, drank coffee, and of course ate doughnuts. It took me about thirty minutes to read the plan and hand out to my little band of brothers the parts they were responsible for reviewing and suggest changes. It was getting close to lunch and I did not want to leave the plan in the room, so I put it in my brief case and headed to the mess hall.
Two hours past lunch my guys had made their recommendations on unit assignment, re-deployments, and calculated the troop strength needed.
The next morning we made a draft of the document and presented it to the commanding officer who had returned from leave. He thanked me for our efforts and said he would have his staff review the suggestions and for me to be in his office noon Friday. It was now only Tuesday morning, so I asked if he had anything else he wanted us to do. He said "No, enjoy yourself, Italy can be very accommodating to military personnel, and by the the way do you need an interpreter while you are here?"
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