Leland Tompkins:  

Life I spent 21 years in the U.S. Army where I spent time in Germany,France,U.K.,Guam,Japan,Korea and Vietnam. In the U.S. I spent time at Ft. Ord CA.,Ft. Benning GA.,Ft. Hood TX.,White Sands Missile Range N.M.,Ft. Monmouth N.J.,and Ft. Sill OK. At Ft. Sill I sort of homesteaded.Got there in Feb 1976 and left my family there as I went on tours overseas. I spent 1968-1969 in Germany in A Company 2d Bn 54th Inf (Mech) as a infantryman. There 16 months drove a M-113 APC first six months than did many positions , rifleman, machine gunner , team learder and finally as a Squad leader , even acting Plt Sgt sometimes . We were very under strenght over that time period . I had moved up to E-5 seventeen months from joining the Army . Applied for OCS and went all the way to the last Board at 4th AD Hqs .( that is like an interview ). I got word in a month thanking me for my desire to serve as a officer only not at this time . I was only 18 and only had gotten one years credit for collage , not good enough was there meaning , oh well . Re enlisted to change my MOS , my wife wanted me to get out of the Infantry ,went to school and became a photographer and photo lab tech. Spent 1970-1971 in Vietnam with the 101st ABN Div in 101st M.I. Company . Went to 163d M.I. Bn at Ft Hood and wanted to get into a Photo Unit plus the draw down from VN had put photography really over strenght and no room for promotion . I got fed up and returned back to the Infantry in 1973 with the 1st Cav Div . I served in Air Troop 1st Sqdn 6th Cav in the Aero Rifle Plt as a Squad Leader and made E-6 within four months . In 1974 I got orders for Drill Sgt duty at Ft Ord , CA . Got there and helped start up the 7th Inf Div at Ft Ord , CA. Then became a Drill Sgt and training troops in Basic Combat Training in B-6-3 . Orders to Ft Sill , OK in 1976 as a Drill Sgt then in 1978 became a weapons instructor until 1979 . Went to Ft Benning summer of 1978 attending the Infantry NCO Advanced Course . While there volunteered for a Ranger Battalion . Returned to Ft Sill until March 1979 then orders for Ranger Training at Ft Benning . Didn't complete it so up for reassignment for awhile .Finally got orders to return to Germany 1979-1981 in 8th Inf Div . Platoon Sgt in C Company 1st Bn 13th Inf (Mech) for two years . I always went overseas unaccompanied leaving my family at Ft Sill , Oklahoma . By then we had a girl and a boy . I made E-7 in March of 1980 . Late 1981 I returned to being a weapons instructor at Ft Sill . In charge of training on rifle ranges , NCOIC of a Field Fire Range and then as NCOIC of a 25 Meter Zero Range . Then came my last assignment overseas to Korea 1984-1985 2d Inf Div . for a year with two and a half months on the DMZ mission . I had spent half the time as a Platoon Sgt in B Co 1/17 Inf (Mech) then managed the Battalions ammunition account my last six months . Returned to Ft Sill and the Infantry instructor group as NCOIC of all Basic Rifle Training ranges and instructors . In May 1986 I became Operation Sgt for training scheduling at the HQ's S-3 Field Artillery Training Center . The first . as far as I know only , Infantry NCO to hold that position which was a 13B Artillery slot .That all took me in and out of Ft. Sill four times until I retired there in Oct 1988. Then I went to work at the largest tire plant in North America,Goodyear Lawton,Oklahoma . I started as the head of the contract security there, Guardsmark , Inc. out of Memphis , TN in Aug 1988-May 1990 when I was hired by Goodyear . I worked on the production line in six different jobs until May 2006 when I took retirement. I spent the next year fishing Bass Tournaments in Oklahoma and Texas and enjoyed myself. Decided to become a Corrections Officer at a local GEO run prison next. They expected me to put in many more hours then I wanted . I left there quickly. Next I became a school bus driver and worked three hours in the morning and three in the afternoon. I drove for seven years then retired from Lawton Public Schools and spend much of my time in my yard . We started riding motorcycles around the country starting in 2009 and joined Gold Wing Road Riders Association. We en...Expand for more