Latest / GO TEXAN THE Truly Significant / Truly Significant Texans honors General Paul "Butch" Funk at the National Mounted Warrior Museum with Commissioner Sid Miller

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Truly Significant Texans honors General Paul "Butch" Funk at the National Mounted Warrior Museum with Commissioner Sid Miller · GO TEXAN THE Truly Significant

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Truly Significant Texans. I'm Rick Tocchini and this
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: show features Commissioner Sid Miller of the Texas Department of Agriculture.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: And And we are at the National Mounted Warfare Museum.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Warrior Museum. Warrior Museum.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: In Fort Hood.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: And the one and only General Paul Butch Funk is here.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: We're honoring him today as a truly significant Texan. And
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: also want to talk about this beautiful museum.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Welcome. Thank you very much. Well, it is a great museum.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: And this guy... No other politicians in our state at
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: that level helped us like Sid did. The place before
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: and after this place was built. I mean, it's partly
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: his house as far as I'm concerned. Well, that's saying
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: way too much.
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: I had a very, very, very small part in it,
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: but I'm glad to see it come to fruition. You
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: put countless hours and blood, sweat, and tears into this
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: along with a lot of, people that you surround yourself
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: with and actually made it happen.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of gnashing of teeth in there. Absolutely.
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: You're very tenacious or it would have never happened.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: We had Bob Crouch and me. We were two guys
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: the whole time. And that made a difference, I think. Thanks.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I told Butch before this interview that when I faced
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: my heroes in life, sometimes you're lost for words. And
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: I was telling him about my experience with Roger Staubach
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: and go face-to-face with him.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: You threw the Hail Mary?
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Well, remember he was a Naval Academy graduate too, so
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: I'm a little, you know, I really love what he did.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: He was a hell of a quarterback. Not quite as impressed. No, no.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: We got a bunch of questions for you today and
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: we may go on or off this, off this, um,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: little script, but Commissioner, lead on.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: All right. Well, General Funk, thanks for being with us
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: today at this wonderful museum that was your vision and
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: basically your creation, the National Mounted Warrior Museum. So let's
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: start from the beginning.
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: What shaped you as a young man to serve and
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: how did you come to serve your country in the
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: manner that you served?
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: That's really an interesting thing. I'm a left-handed kid from Roundup, Montana,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: out on the sticks. A fairly good student, a pretty
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: good athlete at the high school level, nowhere beyond. And
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: spent a lot of time growing up on the ranch,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: one particular one, the so-called ES Park. And so I
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: loved the livestock from the beginning. And I really loved
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: that sort of outdoor, very challenging life, which you know
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: very well. And so as I'm getting ready to go
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: to go off to college. And my father said, well,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: you probably ought to think about ROTC and maybe staying
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: with that while you're there. So I said, okay, I'll
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: take it. Nobody in my family was career military. None.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Not any. Now, since then, my first cousin and I
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: both served. He came in right after I did, and
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: he's retired in this area as a colonel. Anyway, so
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: none of us had had careers. I had people serving
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: in World War II in Korea and so on. I
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: didn't know anything about it.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: You heard that this is going to give you a
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: free pair of boots.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Something like that, yes. A new pair of boots. You
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: mean a new pair of boots? Yes. The Army was
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: the Army. It was a little different back then. There
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: were a couple people there in that program that influenced me.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Very few of us went on to get a commission.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: And I came to Fort Hood as my first tour
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: in the Army. Really?
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: How about that? Yeah, I was. It was 1962, if
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: you believe me. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Yeah. And had
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: no intention of staying. I just said, okay, I'm going
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: to do my duty, serve. And I came in, and
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: I really liked it. In fact, I loved it. I
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: loved being a platoon leader, being in charge of it.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: of this kind of stuff. Five tanks in those days
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: in a platoon, then a cavalry platoon. Really good soldiers.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Draft was still going then, so from all over. Oh, wow.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: And I'm making this too long, but by and large,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: the background I had really stood me in good stead.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: I wasn't afraid of going outside and being in field,
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: doing all that stuff. Wasn't afraid of guns, et cetera. Sure.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: And you were up with them. I did, and I
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: was fairly decent people. And the key was I loved
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: the soldiers and soldier. And I think that sustained me
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: through the whole thing.
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: Well, you spent decades. I don't even add them up.
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: I could, I guess, but in military service. So how
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: did that shape who you are today?
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's another good question. I spent a little over
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: 32 years in the Army. And we were married the
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: whole time. Danny and I were partners. She was... very
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: young lady, and I was a pretty green guy. We
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: came into the Army in January of 62, as I said,
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: and it was a joint operation. We had the three children.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: I actually had a break in service. I thought I'd
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: get out, maybe go back, take over my dad's business.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: I hated it. Oh, no. Yeah, and we came back
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: in the Army, but you know that. Her encouragement and
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: support was really And I did love what I was doing.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: If I could be in charge, and the Army allowed
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: me to command at every rank. Usually you don't get
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: to command things as a major. You don't get to
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: command things very often as a brigadier general. I got
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: to command at those ranks. Oh, wow. So every rank
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: that I held in the Army, I was a commander.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I started out as a company commander in command in
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Germany of a tank company. as a lieutenant, first lieutenant,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: and so on. So to me, that was the challenge,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: and that's why I stuck with it. I loved that.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: I spent almost no time in the Pentagon. Finally, when
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: I was a major general, right after Desert Storm, I
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: spent 14 months and two weeks in the Pentagon. That
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: was what you had to do. As soon as I
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: could leave town, I did.
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: Is there any one moment or any one incident that
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: you look back on your career, that 32 years that
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: was more significant than others or, you know, just that
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: really tops, stands out?
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: The two things that really pop out at the top
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: are commanding war. I was an air cavalry troop commander,
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: flew a Cobra and had 248 soldiers in that troop.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: Big big unit. I was a captain. It was a
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: major's job. I loved that job, but I loved the soldiers.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: Lost a lot of them because it was basically the
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: way the fight started in the 1st Cavalry Division in
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: those days was a scout, 1st and 9th, getting shot
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: at and too often shot down flying these 6s. There's
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: one of mine. It's got our combat markings on it
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: from our troop hanging in the Atrium. In the atrium.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: That's it. I'm taking a little. No, it's a loach.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: Oh, is it?
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: Light observation. We got to use it. And then commanding
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: 3rd Armored Division in Desert Storm. That was historic. Oh, gosh.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Desert Storm. And the Army was a great Army then.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: I don't think you can be great until you prove it.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: And it's about 90 days after that, I'm saying, okay,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: all right, we're a great Army. Let's not lose this. Well,
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: we did, up and down. We had ups and downs.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Everything else was, in fact, many of them after I left.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: But that armored division, we trained so well, supported so well.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: We defeated that army like they were total rookies. And
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: they were supposed to take us apart, you know. Oh,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: they're going to be all these casualties. The Iraqi army was...
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Like a hot knife through butter. Well, it was. I remember. Yeah,
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: very good description. And you know why... Again, because of
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: the soldiers at the lowest level, fighting level, captains and
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: lieutenants and sergeants, private soldiers. They just would not be denied.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: They were hungry. They were ready. They were ready. They
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: were ready. And I got to say go. That's fundamentally,
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: but I'm sitting there thinking, my God, if we haven't
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: trained these kids right, this will be right on us
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: for not having prepared well enough. Well, they were trained
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: and they were ready. So those are the two big,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: I think, things.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: You mentioned before the show about your wife really being
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: the primary influence over the second general and family.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Why don't we take a minute to say thanks to
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: your wife for all the great things.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: Well the truth is is danny and i are still
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: married after it's let's see 1961 we're married so figure
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: it out that's a lot of years yes sir and
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: she's put up with this life We lived in 30
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: different houses in 32 and a half years in the Army.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: So she had to move.
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: I think that's 65 years if.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: I got that right. I think that's 65 years. You're
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: absolutely right. Anyhow, she was always good at doing the
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: things to help support the soldiers, the command. But she
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: always made sure the kids were getting started in a
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: new place, having the things they needed and the Of course,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: we didn't ever make very much money, particularly in those days,
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: but somehow she put all that together and kept us going. Now,
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: she deserves a huge amount of credit, this whole family.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: And certainly, Paul was her first, our first, and yes,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: I think I had some influence on him, and I
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: love that, but the one strongest was his mom, all
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: the way. Wow. Neither one of us told him he
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: had to be a soldier. He decided that. That's where
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I feel like I had some impact, watching me, meeting
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: the soldiers. That's right, and meeting the soldiers and seeing
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: the things that I saw. To this day, they love him.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: He's retired now and lives up here in Belton and
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: doing a lot of other things. But I think the
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: point is he loved his people. And they reciprocated. And
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: to me, that's the greatest mark. People have, you know,
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: they don't care about you. I may butcher this. You
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: can line me up.
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: I believe there's only three instances where father and son
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: were generals.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: At that level. Only twice they commanded the same corps.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Twice they commanded the same corps. Yeah, now there have
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: been instances of, Father, son, general packages, yes. And I
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: can't even tell you how many of those there were.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: So what are the two? The two are our family
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: commanding third corps here in Texas and the Abrams family
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: in Germany in fifth corps. John Abrams, who's dead now,
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: but John was the son of Creighton Abrams, who actually
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: was chief of staff of our army. Creighton Abrams actually
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: died while he was the chief, but he commanded 5th Corps.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: He also, I'm proud to say, commanded 3rd Armored Division
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: many times, many guys before me. And I sat in
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: the same desk, chair and desk, and office that he
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: had in Frankfurt, Germany.
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: Can I assume the Abrams tank is named after him?
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, you certainly, it is, yeah. And he had,
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: of course, died, and that's how, you can't, nothing can
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: be named in, in the Army unless you're dead, so
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: I don't care if Andy's ever named me. Let's hope
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: we don't get that.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: Don't reach that line.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: I just did not get that. Those were the two times.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: There are so few combinations. Well, I just think it's
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: unique to command the Corps. Well, the odds are just
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: highly against it. Even to be a general. Right.
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: I don't know how many soldiers becomes a general.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Well, it depends. It on the era and everything else,
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: but it's a lot less than one percentage of one
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: or a percentage of one. Yeah, less than 1%. Yeah, so,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: but with the family thing, I mean, there have been
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: history of families. For instance, John Abrams later became a
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: four-star like his dad was when he commanded, I mean,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: when he was Chief Staff of the Army. But it
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: doesn't happen very often that the father-son team.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: Before we get into these questions on the museum, I've
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: got a couple of here.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Paul was born here, too, by the way.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: That's what I was going to ask. That was the
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: first here question.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Paul was born here. I'm telling you, old World
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: War II wooden buildings. You know what they look like.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: I know. Oh, yeah. And they're scattered around. But there
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: was this hospital, all these buildings, one story, stuff together.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Single stories, that's right. They lost my poor wife for
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: a day or over a day. They wouldn't feed her.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: She'd come up with her trade to get something. The
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: old spec for it, ma'am, I'm sorry, you're not on
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: the roster. I can't feed you. She said, what? I'm here.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: What do you think I'm wearing this stuff for? It
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: wouldn't feed her.
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: It could not.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Finally, we got the answer. You're talking about going by
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: the book. Yes. Well, this is some kid that was
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: following his orders. She didn't blame him.
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: Who was your favorite president of all time?
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Bush 41. And the reason for that is because of
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: what we did at Desert Storm. Of course. And not
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: only did he send us, and General Powell said, and
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: I did work for him for a while. I went
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: on tour ahead of the Pentagon, which I think was
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: pretty just superb. But he said the strongest of us
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: all getting ready to do this has been the president.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: But we went there. We accomplished the mission. We restored it.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: to its government people. And then we came home. But
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: he let you do what you needed to do. He
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: sure did. And he told General Powell, you put together
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: everything you need. And General Powell said afterwards, people say, wow,
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: you sent too many soldiers, too many. Yeah, well, maybe.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: But we were not going to lose this thing because
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: we didn't commit well enough. And I love Bush 41
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: for saying, we're going there when we're done. We're coming home.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: We haven't done that very often. Just look at what
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: we've done when we went back to Iraq, which I
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: thought was a huge mistake. Korea, we're still there.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: I know that.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: One more hero question. Carl and I have been visiting
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: every presidential library in the last 10 years. I grew
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: up five miles from where Eisenhower was born.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, really?
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: I've become a big fan of his, and I would
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: be remiss if I didn't ask you what you thought
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: about Eisenhower as a leader.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Look, I thought he was excellent. I know Patton gets
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: a lot of press in there, and he's an armored guy,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: a cavalryman like me, and so on, and we all
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: sort of revere him. But you know, in many ways,
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: he was a real idiot, too. And he himself missed that.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: And he even said that to different people, including I
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: think General Eisenhower. had just the right touch to combine
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: all the Allied forces, particularly the Brits, and later the French,
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: for God's sakes, into a force that could win that war.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: And I believe that maybe today he gets enough credit.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: I don't think he deserved it. I thought he was
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: a good president, certainly. But really, as a military guy,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: he probably exceeded what people thought of him at the time.
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: Is he our last general slash president? Or has there
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: been one since? No, no, I believe you're right.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: That's it, isn't it? Yes. That's the last one. It
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: just doesn't happen very often, and it's probably a good thing.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: The commander-in-chief in real life.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: And, of course, that's an awesome title. And when you
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: think about the guys that go there that don't have
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: any experience in the military, I always worry a little
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: bit there.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: And I always worry about who's advising them. I mean,
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: that's to me, now I think that's what guys like me,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: I say that, but nobody's reached out to me for
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: a long time. But people that have had some experience
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: probably would be decent advisors, particularly they can keep their
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: mouth shut and they can talk to the president or
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: his senior people and say, here's what I'd do if
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: I were you guys, blah, blah, blah. And they understand
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: things like, for instance, right now, When I left the Army,
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: we had about 7,000 main battle tanks like that Abrams
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: out there. Today, we got less than 1,200 in the
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: active force. Wow. And Napoleon famously said, God's on the
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: side of the biggest battalions. I think God gives you
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: free will to have the biggest battalions. There you go.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: If you'll bite the bullet, do it. I just think
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: those kinds of things need to be elevated sometimes because
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: I worry if we have to fight somebody seriously. like
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: the Russians for instance, North Koreans, Chinese for instance, don't
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: want to do any of that, but we should be capable.
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: I got another one.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: No, go ahead.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: When was the last time someone at that higher level
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: called you for advice and what did you tell them?
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: Oh gosh, it's been 20 years. It's been, it's been since,
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: since I left the army. I mean, really, I, Every
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: once in a while. Rick Shinseki was one of my guys.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: He commanded 1st Cavalry Division when I was the Corps Commander.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: And he was a great soldier. And, of course, he
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: became the Chief of Staff of the Army. And every
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: once in a while, Rick would ask me a question.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: And I've always admired him then when he had to
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: put up with me and work for me. But since then,
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: we're still friends. Still called me sir, you know, and
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: all that sort of stuff.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: Rightly so.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Even though he outranked me clearly and was the chief
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: staff of the Army. But he was just a health soldier. Yeah.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: So that's probably the last guy that's said anything to me.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: And I was proud to have worked with him.
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: Isn't that great? It makes a man feel good when
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: somebody calls you just for some advice.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah. It doesn't happen very often.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: No, but when it happens.
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: That shows a lot of respect that they do that
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: and value your wisdom and input.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: Well, one of the reasons I've never signed, sometimes admirals
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: and generals and so on, they get them all to
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: sign a letter. Okay. If I want to write a
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: letter to the president, I'll send one myself. I'm not
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: going to be enlisted. Now, If somebody asks me if
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: I support something or something like that, okay. But if
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: it's advice to the political leaders of the country or
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: the military, for that matter, I don't think a bunch
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: of signatures mean much. A form letter, basically. Exactly. It's
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: just a form letter. And I didn't write it.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about this beautiful museum.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: I toured it this morning.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: I was so impressed with how the through line of
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: transportation and men and warfare and being an old Aggie,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: I appreciated the, it started with horses.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: You betcha.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: The mounted cavalry, the Parsons, they didn't say anything about Parsons, but.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: Well, they could have, I guess.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's, but it started there. And so you
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: had a completely different narrative.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: In this museum. Well, and here's the thing. I mean,
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: I was born a hundred years too young. I should
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: have been horse cavalry, but I was raised with horses.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: until recently, always had horses and so on. But the
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: fact is, is that there's always been kind of a struggle.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: It's sort of like the tank thing versus the mounted
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: cavalry thing over how the Army should operate, what it
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: should do. You want to go at two and a
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: half miles per hour? That's what a front can do walking.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: Or do you want to go a horseback? Or do
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: you want to go a little faster with mechanized vehicles
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: and so on? So there are always these kinds of questions.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: But the museum is supposed to tell the story of
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: that entire history. And when asked us to do that,
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: at first we were going to do just from the
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: time Fort Hood was opened and started operating. And then
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: the guys at the Center for Military History said, no,
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: we'd like you to do the entire history. Well, I
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: think that's imperative. Yeah, I agree. You can't get the
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: whole story. No, you can't. If you leave out the genesis.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: And I love the fact that the mounted force all
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: those years, that we can represent it. And by the way,
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: the Army is the one. They hired a contractor. And
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: the Army is the one that did all of these exhibits.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: They put the exhibits in. We built the building with
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Sid's help, by the way. That's the truth. And then
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: they asked us to look at the, the theme and
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: so on and the exhibits. And we did all that.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: We provided some input to that, but I'm really proud
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: of the job they did in putting this together. And I,
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: I couldn't have done it. Wow. That was fantastic. Yeah,
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: it really is. And, and so credit to them. Uh,
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: and it was a team effort, you know, all the
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: way up and down the line.
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: I'll tell you what was, was cool. And I'm, I'm getting,
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: getting off the script here. So when I got here, uh,
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: Deborah's late to pick me up from the airport, so
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: I Ubered over. I got out, and I'm sitting on
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: a park bench in front of the museum. I'm about
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: 10 minutes early, but I'm on this phone call. I'm
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: sitting there. It's just me out there in front of
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: the museum. Here comes a Calvary.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Damn right. Old horses. They sit right there.
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: That's a great example of what we like to say.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: This is That's the living history exhibit for this museum.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: They love being connected to the museum. They train here
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: on Thursdays. They train often because they're going back and
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: forth to post and stuff. But they train and operate
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: over there. People can go watch them. They can tour
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: the stables, and they can come over here. It's pretty cool. No,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: good for you. I'm glad it worked that way. Being
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: the horseman you are, you appreciate that.
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: Oh, I tell you what, I got upset when I
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: heard they were going to do away with it. Oh, man,
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: I got busy.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: I know you did, and thank you, Sid. That's one
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: of the many things. Thank you. Well. You're the only guy,
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: by the way, and I'll definitely take it off. You're
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: the only one in the state that's paid any real
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: attention to this place, and it's made a difference. Look
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: at that cemetery out there. If you go by, you
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: get a chance to go in there and magnificent cemetery.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Wouldn't happen without Sidney. That's the truth. When he was
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: our representative, he paid attention to what we needed. And
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: I mentioned that Ann Richardson said one time, well, why
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: would I go up? They want her to come up
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: here and visit for it. Why would I go up there?
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Them boys don't vote.
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: Now I've got a story.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: I've got a quick story about that.
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: People said, when you had that cemetery built, you you
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: had it built over the county line. Why didn't you
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: put it in your legislative district?
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: I said, well, obvious reason.
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: I don't, I don't need any more dead people voting
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: in my.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: District than already is. That is a fact.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: So I'll put it over the county line. I didn't,
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: I didn't have anything to do with it. But that was, that's,
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: that's a great story. And that, that cemetery is such a,
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: it's just marvelous. Yeah.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: And it's, It's about having patriotism that goes from generation
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: to generation.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: That's what this is really all about.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: This is about legacy.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: And teaching kids about history and why it's important and
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: why we should love our country and love our freedom.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: And it starts here.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Dang right.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: So thank you again for your service.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Well, you bet. When those kids come through here, by
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: the way, and they're coming now in increasing numbers and
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: we're trying to get the word out to other counties
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: and areas to bring the kids. We love having them.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: We've got to get a playground built. We're still working
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: on that. We will. We'll get it one of these days. Still.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: Are you trying to raise money for that?
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: We are. Okay.
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: Do you want to give out that information so our
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: audience can?
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: Well, sure. All they've got to do is contact the
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Mounted Warrior Foundation and anything that you want to direct
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: the money to, we'll do it. We've got plans for it.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: Thought we had it in hand a couple of times,
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: but the funding didn't come through. But all this money
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: is private money. So it's not money the government's putting in.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: We're raising this money. You helped us, Sid. This is
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: private money. Yes, it is.
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: Now, in all truthness, correct me if I'm wrong, I
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: believe the United States Army furnished the real estate.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, absolutely. Yeah, we would have had to buy some.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: Everything else, he raised the money. I don't know, how much,
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: can we say how much? Yeah, somewhere around $ 12 to
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: $ 14 million. $ 14 million, $ 15 million. For just the building, yeah,
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: you can say $ 15 on the upper side. And we've
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: still got things to go. We've got to build four
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: classrooms out here to hook into the atrium. That's going
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: to give us another venue. People could come here and
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: do weddings and things like that. We can train soldiers.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: The real purpose of the museum is supposed to be
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: to train the soldiers. For sure. And then to tell
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: the folks about our history. And we'll do that.
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: Let me back up just a little bit. So how
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: did this come to you? Were you just sitting around
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: drinking coffee one morning and saying, hey, I think we
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: need a museum?
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: No, no. How did all this come about? No, I
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: will tell you that. I'll try to be fairly brief.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: I've had, I guess Pete Taylor, and he's dead now,
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: was the other guy. commanded three installations during the time
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: I was a soldier. That's, again, that command business that
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: I love so much. The National Training Center in the
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Mojave Desert, Fort Knox, Kentucky, that time the Armor Center,
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: and then Fort Hood, Fort Cavazos, as I prefer to
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: call it. Anyhow, all of them had a museum. And
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: they were a pain in the butt because the Army
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: never gave us any money to support them. They'd come
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: down and write you up, critique you and so on.
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: Those kinds of things. We do it to ourselves in
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: the Army. And I'd say, okay, fine. How about giving
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: me some money to do this? I can get some
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: labor from soldiers. But a lot of this stuff requires
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: specific tasks by people who are trained to do it. Well,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: I very seldom got a nickel out of it. So
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: I would browse about that in the museums. I said,
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: these are important. We should, well, anyway. So General Shoemaker,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: for years, when I was the Corps Commander, General Bob
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Shoemaker was one of the greatest citizens ever, citizen soldier,
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: terrific guy. I know him. Yeah. I'm doing. Yes. And
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: he said, all right, but you've got to get this
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: museum thing going. I said, sir. And we went through
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: these discussions and so on. I said, I'm for it,
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: but I don't know how the hell we're going to
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: get it done. You know the Army won't give us
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: any money. to do it. You know I can't use
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: the engineer battalions on this post to do it. Yeah,
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: I know that, but damn it, I know we do. Well,
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: there was a small group in the area here, the
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: mayor and down in Killeen and some other leaders, a
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: banker or two, but mainly guys like, I can't even
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: remember his name now. It'll come to me later. They
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: had been talking to General Schumacher over the years about
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: this and said, okay. They came to me. And the
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: senior civilian on the post was Ron. And Ron came
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: to me and he said, your son said to stay
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: a long ways away from me when I asked him
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: this question. So he stayed out of harm's reach. Paul
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: told him, you can talk to the old man about
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: doing this. But I'm telling you, he's liable to hit
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: you if you even bring it up. So I laughed,
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: and I said, okay, let's go look and see. We
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: went and looked at Benning's Museum. They just built it.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: By the way, it still is not paid for. No? No,
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: they overdid it, and they raised a lot of money,
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: but then they added about $ 10 million on at the end. Anyway,
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: it's still the Army. The Army actually has to rent
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: the museum from this corporation. little corporation they put together.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: I said, we're not having that. If I do that,
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: if we're doing this, we're going to pay for it
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: and we're not going to do it. So, okay. That
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: little cell came together and asked me to do it.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: And so we started. And that's about the way it happened.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: I did not originally have the idea. I love the
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: idea of having a nice museum here, but I sure didn't.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: I'm proud we did it. Oh, everybody is. I don't
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: know why it's not. I don't think anybody that's come
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: through here has, which to me is a real measure
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: of what we have. It's been good for the, I say, look,
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: Central Texas, there's nothing like it in this part of
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: our state. There's nothing like it in the southern United States, really.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: West of Mississippi, we're the most modern army museum, up-to-date
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: and everything. So anyway, it's something for our community.
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: It should be. It's reminiscent of the museum in New Orleans,
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: which we were really impressed with.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: They had some guys there with fairly deep pockets to
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: fund that. It looked like it.
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: Lots of names on the wall.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: Tom Hanks and Spielberg. Those were the big guys. And
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: of course, that museum is private. It's not owned by
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: the Army or anything. That was the only way we
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: saw we could do it was to build it, turn
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: it over to the Army. So as soon as it
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: was built, approved, everything, we gave them the keys and said, okay,
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: we're here to support. And we've had a really good relationship.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: So I hope that continues.
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: Let's talk about your favorite artifacts that are in use.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: Well, I mentioned that LOH, that L-O-H, that scout helicopter
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: from the 086, Cayuse it was called. And it was very,
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: very crashable. Yeah. I mean, I say that and it
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: sounds silly and funny, and it is kind of funny.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: The truth is it had a frame they built around it.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: It was very strong and if they got shot and
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: they didn't nose over or something like that, they could
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: get the skids fairly level. And even though they crashed,
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: we could get them out. They survived it. So that's
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: what you mean by crashable. I do mean crashable. Maybe
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: it was very survivable. That's a better term. No, it was.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, it really, unfortunately, we didn't have, in those days,
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: crashed fuel cells. And those fuels, so sometimes, if they
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: rolled over in particular, it'd catch on fire. You couldn't
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: save kids. But we had a lot of terrible mess,
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: it looked like. We'd go in with our barrel rifle,
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: do the blues, secure the area, and lift them out.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: And usually we medevaced our own guys. because we had Hueys, too,
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: to do that with. But it was a fighting unit,
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: first class, and really for that war, nobody was as effective,
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: I believe, as those Cavalry units. And that Loach, I
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: really admired that. Now, we went to 58 later with
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: another company building it, and that, we didn't feel, was
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: nearly as survivable. So we hung on to these things.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: So I really liked, and I liked the Abrams tank
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: a lot. I guess it's because I was around. When
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: I came in the Army, we had the M-48 with
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: gas engines. And it was funny, you'd be out here
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: training at night and we'd crank them up to get
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: ready to attack or something. By God, the flames would
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: shoot 100 feet in the air. I'd say, well, there
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: goes the surprise element. Yeah, there you go. You could
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: see them in Moscow, I think. But we worked hard
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: and had a lot. It was a lot of fun, too,
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: but it was And great young people, that's what you do.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: Now this vehicle I'm kind of proud of because this
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: is the only armored vehicle not named after a general.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: We named this when it was decided, it was proved
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: for the Army to buy it. We were told to
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: come up with a name and we named it after
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: Sergeant Stryker, who was a very heroic soldier in World
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: War II and Korea. And so we've Submitted that name
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: and it was accepted. Most of them are named after
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: Patton Tank, Abrams, et cetera, Sheridan Tank. But no, he's
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: named after a real soldier, a guy who did the fighting.
• 35:32
  Speaker 5: I was fortunate enough to get to drive an Abrams
• 35:35
  Speaker 5: tank one time. Oh, my goodness. And the crew was impressed.
• 35:38
  Speaker 5: They said, man, were you in the military? I said, no,
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: I've never been. They said, man, you drive this tank
• 35:42
  Speaker 5: better than our tank operator.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: I said, what?
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: I said, it might be because I own a 977 Caterpillar.
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: I drive it every day. It was funny, the sergeant
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: major at Great Joe T. Hill was my sergeant major
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: at Desert Storm. Anyway, he was going through, looking, and
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: they're out maneuvering. This is before we actually attacked. And
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: he had a woman who was the administrative person in
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: the back seat. She happened to be a young black lady.
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: And they're riding along and looking out, and here's this
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: tank company on the move, guns and everything. I said,
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: Sergeant Major, that blankety-blank tank looks like it was born
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: in this desert. I said, that's a good one because
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: it did. You know, what happens is you're going like this,
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: you're going all those bumps, you know. Oh, yeah. And this, that,
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: and that gun is just steady. I never could figure
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: that out.
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: But that seems like 30, 40 miles an hour, up
• 36:41
  Speaker 5: and down, oh, it's popping. That gun just is level.
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: You bet. You get it on the target. Put it
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: on it.
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: No matter what the tank's doing, the gun's staying on
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: the target.
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: It is. And it's gotten better. The optics have gotten better.
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: The day-night stuff has gotten better. That made a difference
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: in that war. When we attacked the Iraqis, the first
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: battalion commander we captured, he was standing on top of
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: his tank with his hands up. He and his two
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: crew members had this on it. It was a T-72,
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: their most modern tank. And Our guys just quickly, most
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: of their officers spoke English, but when he was getting
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: ready to send him to the rear, he said, how
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: come you gave up? He said, the tank on my
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: left blew up catastrophically, and I never saw where that
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: came from. The tank on my right, the same thing happened,
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: and I knew we were next. And so this is
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: a tribute to those soldiers, young privates and soldiers. I mean,
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: they're 1920 years old. They saw this crew standing up
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: on top of that tank with their hands up. Tony,
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: if it would have been a Republican guards against us,
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: they'd have blown that tank away and kept moving. Our
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: kids stopped, captured them, passed them in the rear and
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: kept going. Big difference. Big difference. Huge difference. And a
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: disciplined force like we had. And that's, I was really,
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: really proud of that. The Abrams performed magnificently there. Far
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: and away, I'll say far and away, pretty good difference
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: in what killed their systems. particularly their tanks, then the
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: Abrams was far ahead of anything, including the Air. The
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: Air Force said, oh, no, we got 65% of them.
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: I'll just say, shucks, that's not true. They didn't get
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: that many. They got some, not that many. It's hard
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: to do that for the Air. But they didn't reckon
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: with the U.S. Army and all the very well-trained kids
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: they had. One little, you've got to tell them worse
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: than one, One little aside, we were all still wearing
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: the green uniform. Yeah. We got the green that was
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: for Europe and those kinds of fights and so on.
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: So we had the battle dress uniform was the green camouflage.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: And some of the ladies were commenting to my wife, hey,
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: how come our guys don't have the desert uniforms yet?
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: You know, that's not right. We're worried about them. Well,
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: soldiers complain about what's going on. Well, they were making
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: them as fast as they could and getting them forward.
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: And so until about, I guess it was a week
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: or so before, they actually crossed the line of departure.
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: And they'd captured these guys. Actually, they came across willingly
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: to eat from the Iraqi army. Said, well, do you
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: know who's out there trying to figure out if they
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: knew more formations? Well, no, we know there's some, maybe
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: some Egyptians and so on. They said, no, lots of U.S. Army. Said,
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: but we do know we don't want to fight those
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: guys wearing those green uniforms. Why? And everybody was real proud,
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: you know, wearing their green uniform around them. So I'm
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: not sure, probably some intel guy planted that so they'd
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: shut up. Good move. We did get them in before
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: we attacked. We got everybody into that. Big deal. Go
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: ahead and ask that one. That's a good one. Yes, sir.
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: You got your finger on it. Yes, I do.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Commissioner Miller and I wanted to touch on leadership and
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: send a message to the next generation that are listening today.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: I wish that everybody, when they go through boot camp,
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: would come through here so they could understand history.
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: But here's our question.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: What distinguishes a good commander from a truly great leader today?
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: Okay. I think this has been true back to George Washington.
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: It's been true at every phase of our Army. Some
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: leaders have not necessarily because of their successes on the
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: battlefield at the time. We all know Washington got defeated
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: several times and somehow kept the Army together and ended
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: up winning. So I think the difference is that the
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: people that I would call General John Yosak happens to
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: be my son's father-in-law. He's dead now. He commanded all
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: Army forces in Desert Storm. I worked for him two
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: or three times. Great soldier, most selfless person I know
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: as a commander. He never, ever was up there trying
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: to get in the front page or trying to get
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: quoted or anything else. He just damn well did his
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: job and made sure that the units he commanded executed.
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: I think that the business of selfless leadership is underestimated.
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: My boss in the Desert Storm was General Fred Franks.
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: He was a 7th Corps commander. We were attached to
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: his corps. He was a tremendous guy and probably the
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: most modest, certainly of all those corps commanders over there
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: at the time. I think you can say that about Freddie.
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: He was like John Yosuf in that regard in that
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: it wasn't about him. It was really about the soldiers
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: and the units and getting them everything they needed to perform.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: the greatest, General Powell was like that. He really was.
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: He was unique in my experience because somehow, General Powell
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: just got a lot of stuff done without, not to
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: say he couldn't raise his voice, or he wouldn't, but
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: without raising his voice, and he didn't have to say
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: it with a lot of expletives, which is probably a
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: problem I have sometimes, added on. I mean, he just
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: was a Someone that everybody admired for what he was. Now,
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: he happened to be a black soldier, too. And he
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: was really proud of that. But that wasn't his foremost thing.
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: He was a soldier in the United States Army, United
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: States military. And so those are the kind of people
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: that I think are Rick Shusecki that I mentioned. Yes, sir.
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: A guy named Charlie Jackson. Charlie. He was the... Damn it,
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: I lost his last name now. He was the highest-ranking
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: black soldier to be awarded the Medal of Honor. And
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: I worked for him when he was a major at
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: the training center in Fort Lewis, Washington. I was again
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: a company commander then. He was a spitfire, about that tall.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: Really good person, though. Great guy. And became a minister,
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: by the way, after he left. But he was very,
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: very firm in his taking care of his duties and
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: then as an artillery battalion commander in Vietnam he actually
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: was in on a fight when the fire base was
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: overrun 105 guns he was charging the gun firing it
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: himself I mean the Medal of Honor citation Rogers was
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: his name Charles Rogers I'll look him up Yeah, very,
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: very brave guy. He's in the Medal of Honor Museum,
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: I'm sure. Those are the kind of guys that I
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: had great admiration for. And interestingly enough, a number of
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: them were minorities. I mean, General Dick Cavazos, the finest
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: combat leader in my time in the Army. Wow. He
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: really was. Cavazos. Cavazos, which, you know, we'd rename this
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: place for him and then Yes, sir. They renamed it back.
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: But anyway, Nick Lasos, even the guys who were his
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: peers and so on knew him and admired him for
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: his ability to take battle and figure out how to
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: organize work and execute. He was awarded.
• 45:01
  Speaker 6: The Medal of Honor in Vietnam and the Distinguished Service Cross,
• 45:08
  Speaker 6: the second highest award for heroism in our military history.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: In Vietnam. So Korea, Vietnam, born and raised, he called
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: himself a Tex-Mex born and raised on the King Ranch.
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: And he was. And he went to Texas Tech and
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: so he had a lot of Aggie jokes. I bet. Yes,
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: he did. But I mean, he had a sense of humor,
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: but he could just talk to soldiers, all of us.
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: And he just had your attention. He was a mentor afterwards.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: And I got to know him even better. When I
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: was the corps commander here, he was my mentor for
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: the battle command program that we have in the Army.
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: And so we kept him in the Army doing those things.
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: And that program would have never succeeded without him. He
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: just made it happen. So those are the kind of
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: people that I really have a lot of admiration and
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: regard for.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: Well, we have lots of admiration for you, too. We
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: brought a couple of things for you today, and I'll
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: let our commissioner present this one to you.
• 46:20
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 46:21
  Speaker 5: This is presented to General Paul E. Butch Funk from
• 46:27
  Speaker 5: the Texas Department of Agriculture. This is the Go Texans
• 46:31
  Speaker 5: Truly Significant Texan Award.
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: Outstanding. I'm very proud. And as you know, I do
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: have the Spearhead Ranch out here.
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: North of this area. Herford Cattle, because I used to
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: do that as a kid. I love the life. I
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: was out there today scratching around, trying to do that.
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: I'm not very quick anymore, Sid. I'm about three steps.
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: That's one reason I like Herford Cattle. I don't have
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: to get up the fence all the time. There you go.
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: When they're chasing me.
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: And make them more functional.
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: I love the idea. I know I'm not a big
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: time rancher or anything.
• 47:09
  Speaker 5: You've got some pretty good cattle.
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: I've seen them. They're high quality. Thank you, Sid. I've never,
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: the thing I admire, well, above all the leaderships, but
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: the way you rope. See, I never felt like I
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: could call myself a cowboy because I did a lot
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: of cowboying. I couldn't hit my cow. You're a cowboy.
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: Call me a cow man, I guess that's okay. cattle,
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: and I learned a lot, and I still learn.
• 47:38
  Speaker 5: The only reason you need to learn to rope is
• 47:39
  Speaker 5: you're not a good enough cowboy to get them in
• 47:41
  Speaker 5: the pen.
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, but sometimes it's necessary. I always wished I could.
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: I guess I'm left-handed.
• 47:48
  Speaker 5: Maybe that's... Well, you know.
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: No, listen, I really admire you for that skill. But, no,
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: I'm proud to have this. Frankly, it's... Perfect. I like
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: being called through significant text.
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: And this is a book for you and your wife.
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: I put your heroic wife.
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: Well, good for you. Listen, she'll love you. You got
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: to beat her some.
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: There's a story.
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: The last chapter in this book is on another great wife,
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: Sid Miller's wife.
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: There you go. That she is. That's his picture, but
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: the story's on. It's more about her. It's a good
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: story about her.
• 48:29
  Speaker 4: It really is. It's a wonderful story.
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: Let me tell you a story about my wife.
• 48:33
  Speaker 4: I want you to. That's a good way to wrap around.
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a very important thing in our family. So
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: I get notified. I don't know if General Franks called
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: me or what. Probably at our court. I said, hey, okay,
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: 3rd Armored Division's going to what became Desert Storm. They're
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: going to the Middle East to restore Kuwait to its people.
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: And so I said, okay, but you've got to leave
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: one battalion behind for security. We had some nuclear weapons
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: up in the northern part of our area. And that
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: happened to be the battalion was picked by General Saint,
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: who was then Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Army Forces Europe. He said,
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: you're going to leave the 2nd and 32nd Armor. I said, okay.
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: So I go home to tell Nanny this at lunch,
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: and I said, we've got to leave one battalion. We're
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: leaving the 2nd and 32nd Armor. And so she said, oh, okay.
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: And I said, well, that's Paul's battalion. He was in
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: that battalion. His son, he was in 3rd Armored. She said,
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: You are not leaving that boy back here while you're
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: taking everybody else's husbands and son to a fight, to
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: a war. You are not going to do that. Yes, ma'am.
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: So I didn't. He moved. Well, he was due to move.
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: He was in command of his company, ready to turn
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: it over. And he was going to stay in that brigade.
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: He moved to another brigade and commanded another company while
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: in Third Army Division, Desert Storm. So. A special thing
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: to say is that Paul and I have that service
• 50:11
  Speaker 3: together in combat that not a lot of fathers get
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: to do or, in our case, was privileged to do.
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: But his mom definitely made that happen. And I love
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: the story because, I mean, she didn't even take a breath.
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: You are not leaving that boy behind while everybody else's
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: son is. Ouch. Yeah. That wouldn't have been good. No,
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: it wouldn't. I like her already. Yeah, no, you would.
• 50:35
  Speaker 3: She's very quiet. but she wasn't going to put up
• 50:39
  Speaker 3: with that, and she didn't. And so we got served
• 50:43
  Speaker 3: together in combat, and I wouldn't trade that for anything, honestly.
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: I'm going to wrap this up by saying here, there's
• 50:51
  Speaker 4: three guys here. North is 70 years old. Tomorrow is
• 50:54
  Speaker 4: my last.
• 50:55
  Speaker 5: Day at the Texas Department of Agriculture.
• 50:57
  Speaker 4: You had to bring that up.
• 50:58
  Speaker 6: Sorry.
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: Okay, we're 7.0 version. But tomorrow is my last day
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: at the Texas Department of Agriculture. I would be remiss
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: if I didn't thank you. for letting me work with you,
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: albeit a very short period of time, but it's been
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: an honor. And I wanted Butch to talk to you
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: as a wrap-up about what life is like when you
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: leave an office.
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 51:24
  Speaker 4: So I'm going to put it in your court, Mr. Minister.
• 51:28
  Speaker 4: This is a guy talk.
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: I've done a lot. I've done a lot. Because when
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: you change command, there's a very specific protocol the sergeant
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: major of the battalion, let's say battalion, it could be
• 51:41
  Speaker 3: a guidon, a company, but every one of those units
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: I commanded, my first sergeant, the sergeant major, would hand
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: me the colors, the guidon, and then I turned and
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: handed them to the, whoever my command boss was, and
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: he turned and handed them to the new command. That
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: was a clear break for, okay, the king is dead,
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: long live the king, you know, the colonel's dead, long
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: live the colonel. In every one of them, I just
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: have to tell you, I wept. Yeah, I love being
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: in command so much. And I guess maybe that's sinful.
• 52:17
  Speaker 3: But you love this job. And you've done a great job. Amen.
• 52:22
  Speaker 3: And everybody knows that. And so I just tell you
• 52:26
  Speaker 3: that it is a hard thing to do. But you'll
• 52:31
  Speaker 3: do it. And you'll find other things to do. But
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: they can't take away from you. But you've been our
• 52:37
  Speaker 3: commissioner of agriculture for all those years. And how much
• 52:40
  Speaker 3: you meant to this area for this installation, this museum,
• 52:45
  Speaker 3: that cemetery, all of those things. Nobody else down there
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: cared about us. You didn't. And you do. And I
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: tell you, too many people didn't know that. And I
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: wish they had. But this is something that's, well, listen,
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: you've been a good friend. You've been a terrific commissioner
• 53:03
  Speaker 3: of agriculture. You can be very proud. And you're a
• 53:07
  Speaker 3: Texan through and through. And you're your own man. Well,
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: I'd say the same thing about you. No, we're focusing
• 53:14
  Speaker 3: on you because of what you've done. What man of
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: principle you are. And how you've stood up for what
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: you believed in. And I still think that's more important.
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: When the good Lord starts counting things up, that's going
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: to count. Not some of the things that maybe other
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: political leaders do or so-called leaders do. And so... Listen,
• 53:36
  Speaker 3: I'm ready to move on. I realize that the rear
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: view mirror is small. Yes. And the windshield is big.
• 53:42
  Speaker 5: So we're looking down the road. And I'm really kind
• 53:45
  Speaker 5: of excited about the next new phase of my life.
• 53:48
  Speaker 5: And I'm determined to not live in the past.
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: No, sir.
• 53:51
  Speaker 5: I'm excited for what's down the road.
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: Good for you. And listen, I know there are old
• 53:57
  Speaker 3: washed up generals, nothing they can really do for anybody.
• 54:00
  Speaker 3: But if there's anything you need me to do, I
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: will do that. And lock. That's what, that's what, well,
• 54:06
  Speaker 3: that's what friendship's about. And respect. So, God bless. And
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: I know you'll do good for whomever you work, whatever group,
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: all of us in Texas, maybe others. Maybe so. We'll see.
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: It's been an honor to be in the midst of significance,
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: both of you. Thanks again for our time together.
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: I've enjoyed it.
• 54:29
  Speaker 4: And, Sid, our tradition is for you to have the
• 54:33
  Speaker 4: final word on the importance.
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: Of Texas agriculture. Okay. Well, I'm not prepared for this.
• 54:40
  Speaker 5: I usually have to think about something like that.
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: That's pretty significant. It is significant. Truly significant. You bet
• 54:46
  Speaker 3: it is.
• 54:48
  Speaker 5: Well, I'll leave you with this, this thought. And here
• 54:51
  Speaker 5: is the significance of agriculture. Without agriculture, we'd all be homeless.
• 54:59
  Speaker 5: Without agriculture, we'd all be hungry.
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: Amen. Without agriculture, we'd all be naked. Without agriculture, we'd
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: all be sober. Well, there is that.
• 55:13
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Janice. Have a good day.
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: Big hearted Texans found across our state. Pride is how
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: we're looking. Risk it is on our plate.
• 55:47
  Speaker 3: Boots, it's what we're wearing.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: Horses, yeah, we may ride. Farming is so rewarding.