Suppose you were raised in a military town and joining the Army was your ultimate goal. Once of age, you volunteer and are then later picked for specialized training…rumor has it you’ll be leaving for Vietnam soon to utilize this special training, but instead, you find yourself on the steps of the Pentagon during a major demonstration. Read about it here.
In attendance, Dr. Benjamin Spock, author Norman Mailer, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Poet Robert Lowell, Clive Jenkins British Labour Party on the militant side. On the Government side at the Pentagon was Robert McNamara, our military leaders, Federal Marshals, Military Police, 6th Armored Cavalry and me, Richard Toops a 19-year-old Private, enlisted with a Regular Army ID # RA16960167.
As a United States Army Private, Fresh out of training, I awoke from a brief nap in the Pentagon’s tunnels. Here I was down under this mammoth and invincible structure, lying on the floor in full dress greens, bloused boots with just a bedroll between me and the hard concrete. Next to me lay my M-14 rifle with scabbard bayonet. Why I was there was still somewhat of a mystery. There were no cell phones, no twitter, no google, no social media back then. So we could only imagine why we were there. But let’s digress a bit.
Well, on to Leadership Prepatory Course I went, then Advanced Individual Infantry Training at Ft. Ord, California. From there, after graduation, I was assigned to The 6th Armored Cavalry at Ft. Meade, Maryland. I was there for a couple short weeks then sent to Camp Pickett, Va for more field training in Mechanized Training with M-48 Tanks and old WWII Jeeps. Camp Pickett is where we would start some very secretive and special training. We did not know why, but it was ultimately training for our October 21st encounter with America’s hippies at the Pentagon. But at this time we did not know the reason for the special training. All we knew was that it was something very secret. We were told that continually.
About the first week of October we were brought in from our Mechanized training in the forests of Virginia to our old WWII wooden barracks at Camp Pickett, we called garrison, and told we were to undergo some special secret training. We were told to sit down and write our loved ones or head to the telephone booths and call them, stating that we would be undergoing training and would not be in communication with them after today until further notice. After these letters and or call, all having to be completed by 9PM our mail would be held up until our training was complete and we could no longer make any phone calls to our wives, girlfriends or families back home. The payphones were put off-limits (Camp Pickett was a small garrison in 1967 and I don’t think we had more than 20). We all were thinking that our time had come and we were headed to Vietnam with this training having to do with some special mission in mind. So we thought anyway. We would be a special group of soldiers going after the commies in Vietnam. Oh my! the minds of young soldiers.
On October 18, 1967, we were instructed to put our wool uniforms on (remember its wintertime) and assemble our dress green uniforms, personal overnight hygiene items and check out our M-14 Weapons. That night after dark we were loaded onto several 2 1/2 ton trucks and headed out. At every intersection on our Camp, some of us had to jump out with flashlights and stop traffic, over and over again. When we got to the main roads we had Military Police Cars filled with MPs doing the job for us. Hours later we stopped at, I believe, Camp Hill and then onto Ft. Meade, Maryland. Upon arrival we were told to go sleep, still not knowing where we were going or why. In the morning before daylight, we were instructed to get our dress green uniforms ready, we would have bloused boots, and helmet liner ready to put on, at a time later on that day. All-day we polished our boots, cleaned our weapons and did it all over again. At nightfall after supper we were loaded onto busses and headed out, I could tell we were headed in the direction of Washington DC, a few miles down the road. We pulled into the Pentagon and unloaded the busses and went into what to me was a basement full of long halls. We were told to put our sleeping bags down on the floor and again sleep. At this point, I had had enough sleep I just wanted to know what was happening. I got my wish, within a few hours or so we were told that 100,000 hippies were going to storm the Pentagon and levitate it or some such nonsense. We were going to be going upstairs and surround the Pentagon and keep the hippies at bay.
In all this, I had a perfect place to watch it all, from the entrance to the Pentagon you could look below for several 100 yards in any direction, the mass of humanity. No one got close to our second line of defense. Well, not where I was anyway.
Good story, brother. Thank you for allowing me to share this with my readers. Thank you, too, for your sacrifice and service.
I was at the Pentagon. It is incorrect to call everyone hippies. Lots of us were professionals, students, veterans, employed people, and even veterans of Vietnam and earlier wars. We were not all on drugs. As to the US marshals, I witnessed unnecessary brutality on their part. The writer seems to enjoy having witnessed people’s heads getting bashed in. How very sad to think that this is his most important memory of that day. For his sake I hope it wasn’t the highlight of his life.
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His comments are so slanted and disrespectful, I will just let him be. I was 19 on that weekend and that was my observations. And if you think I enjoyed peoples heads being cracked, you don’t know me.
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It fits. The commies are as spineless now as they were then. It’s all about photo ops for the “leaders” and knocks for the rank and file. Thanks for sharing Richard. I am from Branson, MO and I too went to basic at Ft. Leonard Wood but in ’68 then to Ft. Ord 81mm mortars, then Vietnam, Bear Cat, Dong Tam and finally to Tan Tru E Co. 12/68 on the Vam Co Tay river. I transferred to E Co. Recon, volunteered to walk point and did for 5 months straight. I became 1st Squad leader (SGT) and later acting Platoon Sergeant. The Greyhounds ferried us around alot along with the Navy Wolf Hounds. You guys were superb! I and another member volunteered to fly door gunner on separate gun ships for two insertions while the regular gunners went to get sodas. Quite a different perspective. Thanks for all the support!
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Brian, You say you were at Ft Leonard Wood in 68. I came back to Ft. Leonard Wood in Sep 68 and was a Training Officer for Basic Trainees until I left for Flight School in December 68. I was with A-2-3. As to Branson, my wife and I. Go to Branson at least 4 times a year. We have been going there regularly since 1976. Our home away from. We either stay at the Wyndham or Holiday Hills. He Greyhounds had a reunion there I think in 2015. Thks R. Toops
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Enjoyed the article from a first hand perspective. I watched it on TV as I was assigned to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona.
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Glad you liked it, and thanks for taking time to read it.
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Thanks Neal. Glad you liked it, part two coming next week here on this site. My experience as a helicopter pilot with the 240th AHC GREYHOUNDS. Richard Toops
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Nothing but a bunch of liberal traitors.
On Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 12:03 CherriesWriter – Vietnam War website wrote:
> pdoggbiker posted: ” By Richard Toops In attendance, Dr. Benjamin Spock, > author Norman Mailer, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Poet Robert Lowell, Clive > Jenkins British Labour Party on the militant side. On the Government side > at the Pentagon was Robert McNamara, our mi” >
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I arrived for duty with the Old Guard (the US Army’s ceremonial troops) at Ft Meyer, VA at this time. The Old Guard troops dressed in their dress blue uniforms and headed for the Pentagon.
I did not go as I had just got there. The next morning there was a yellow submarine on our rear porch. It was about 12′ long and was a very bright yellow with a black peace sign on the conning tower. The Old Guard had noticed it in the crowd and charged into the hippies to capture it. What a hoot. I wish I had taken a picture!
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Ron, when I was at Ft. Ord and OCS was backed up they offered us the opportunity to apply for other training and drop out of OCS. OGuard was a big temptation for me. I had to really do some thinking on it, but I knew I wanted to eventually fly helicopters so I stayed the course. Richard Toops
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I have vivid memories of this event but for different reasons. During 1965 I served in the Navy with Task Force 115, the coastal blockade of Vietnam. We patrolled from the DMZ to just south of Cambodia. Our role was to engage all suspect vessels, mostly sampans, junks and freighters. By February 1966 I had separated and returned home.
In October 1967 I was in college on the GI bill. The news of hippy protest at the Pentagon and elsewhere made me sick. Added to my concerns was the spread of anti-Vietnam protests that came to a head during the presidential conventions of 1968.
As difficult as your role against the protesters might have been. I admire you for standing up to them. Just over 20 years earlier my dad served a stint in the Pentagon just prior to his discharge as a Navy Chief Petty Officer.
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Richard, thank you for your dad’s service and yours. And I might add, very pleased you made it home. A lot of our brothers did not and Pdoggbiker does a great job of giving us a place to remember Our times Nam in a more relaxed way. Richard Toops
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we were put on standby for riot alert right after Dr King was killed. duffle bags loaded, weapons issued. busses outside and ready to roll. we stood down the next day.
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Dennis, I was at Ft. Benning in OCS when Dr. King was killed. We were all put on lock down and not allowed to leave the Fort for several days. The Jewish Candidates were scheduled to go off post to celebrate a Religious holiday with local families, this was all cancelled as well.
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Richard Troops, this is a bit of a stretch but I was processing out of Navy Radar School at Great Lakes Naval Training center, picking up my medical records the moment John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Ironically, the Navy had booked me home on a Sante Fe passenger train bound for Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was killed while my train rolled through east Dallas. We pulled off on a siding for a time, long enough for the railroad to conclude we could arrive safely at Union Station.
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Your comments made me feel like I was in Dallas sitting on a train. Its funny how recreating history stirs the soul. Thanks for your Navy service. Richard Toops
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This was a valuable piece of first person historical narrative. It is the type of arcane detail that is important to fill in the gaps so to speak that researchers don’t find in historical archival material .
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Michael, thanks for your comments. To this day I have not seen one article that provided any insight into the Military’s preparations to this event. Glad I can shed some light, even as a low ranking private.
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In October 1967 I was a SP4 stationed at Kitzingen,(Bayern) Germany. I would get to Vietnam in January 1968. I was never stationed at Fort Meade, MD but as a USAR Officer spent much time there on Army business. I was TDY to Camp Pickett for 8 weeks as an evaluator when I was on USAR AGR duty for 48 months.
Interestingly later on in my civilian career I was a Deputy US Marshal (DUSM) for a number of years. By the time I was a DUSM all Deputies were trained in crowd control techniques and how to operate during mass arrest situations. The Marshal Service even had created a special operations unit called SOG that would be the lead element in such situations.
I went on to retire from the Army with 14 years of active duty and 28 in the reserve. I not only went to Vietnam (I was a SGT then) but was deployed to Operation Desert Storm in 1991 (I was a Major in a Civil Affairs unit) and recalled to active duty for Operation Iraq Freedom (I was a Lieutenant Colonel in a Civil Affairs unit).
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