Deadliest Warrior TV, Spike Network

I was recently invited to participate on the Deadliest Warrior TV show which airs on the Spike Network.

The show pits a warrior and his army against another famous warrior of the same era and through computer technology attempts to determine who the winner would be. The show I was involved with had George Washington and his army fighting against Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces.

In the early stages of the show, certain experts travelled to a remote area where they fired cannons used by Washington and cannons fired by Napoleons warriors---the efficiency of each cannon was evaluated and the data was entered in a computer to determine who had the best artillery. The same was accomplished with the firing of muskets and long rifles.

Typical tactics and maneuvers of the two armies were looked at and their attention to the principles of war and a lengthy string of other important elements associated with warfare were evaluated by computer. While I was not privy to the details of the information gathered and evaluated, I was certainly impressed with the broad range and depth of questions and answers that were placed under consideration.

My role on the show was to answer a few questions associated with leadership, intelligence, battlefield management, terrain, weather, training and other issues important to attaining victory on the field of battle. Most of the questions presented to me were anecdotal in nature and did not fit a computer program very well. Just how my answers will be weighted and considered is a mystery to me.

All in all it was a very interesting day and I met some very knowledgeable people, all friendly, and all accomplished in their fields of endeavor.

If you are interested in this facet of history you might consider watching this series and this particular show which will air in the April/May 2011 time frame.

The interview with Stephen Mitchell

The Interview

I was interviewed by Stephen Mitchell, a friend and associate to whom I was introduced about four years ago. The interview was conducted in a TV studio in Sherman Oaks, California. The resulting program and DVD will be used as a promotion piece for me and my projects (one of which is a new book I am writing) and also to promote Business on-demand, a business news channel conceived by Stephen in which I will play a part.

I am convinced that the production will be a valuable product which will enhance my career--not because of what I said or how I performed. It will be due to the professional approach utilized by Stephen in guiding the proceedings.

The Process

His technique involves meeting with the interviewee a few minutes before the shooting is scheduled. He came to the meeting fully prepared with a plan, notes and questions--a virtual roadmap of where he was going. This was comforting for me and I’m thinking, “Well at least he knows what we are going to do.”

I did take note of the fact that he wasn’t very specific concerning precisely what questions would be presented. So I was comforted on the one hand but concerning the questions--well, I was a little on edge.

He quickly sent me into the studio area to sit-in while his assistant set up lights and worked out the sound in preparation for the interview. In other words he left me to “stew” over the possible questions for 15 minutes or so.

In retrospect, my reaction was interesting. During the 15 minute interlude I felt as if the chemicals in my brain were activated and my interest in what was going to occur was piqued and I actually began to focus before the interview. I was ready for the challenge of Stephen Mitchell.

Underway

The command, “Roll camera” came and he hit me with the first question--an easy opener and then another question. I responded with a rather long answer to question two opening up a myriad of pathways for Stephen to pursue. At this point I noticed that Stephen put his notes aside and he went full steam ahead--he was underway--guiding, directing and asking for amplification, explanation and more details. We talked for over an hour.

Post Interview Thoughts

I was amazed at how effortless and easy the interview turned out to be. We simply had a conversation--yet the interview was powerful. I wondered to myself, “How did he do it?” Now I know--he came prepared, he gave me time to get the adrenaline moving, he opened slowly and ultimately followed his instincts to highlight important points for me to discuss.

In my view the key to a quality interview lies with the interviewer--Stephen Mitchell is a Master at the interview game.

Early Army days

It was colder than hell at Fort Benning, Georgia that morning of February 4th. We were marching off to take the Ranger swimming test. The test was a do or die requirement, a major barrier that had to be overcome. Each candidate had to pass the five events of the swimming test to get into the Ranger school.

I had decided about a year earlier that I was going to be an army Ranger. It is a small, elitist club of military personnel and my ego was such that I had to become an army Ranger. If I could not compete on even terms with the best in the army I would give up my commission and become a civilian.

I spent about six months getting ready for the course and I had put in a lot of hours swimming to build my strength and endurance. I spent time doing laps in swimming pools and tried my hand at swimming in lakes and even a river. I knew there was a lot of emphasis on swimming and operating at night in swamps. But I had no idea that I would suffer as I did to make it through the test on the first day of school. And most of the suffering had nothing to do with the actual test.

As we marched along that morning with our 10.5 pound M-1 rifles, everyone was energized and ready to meet the challenge of Day One. It was extremely cold and there was a light breeze blowing and we were wearing just a fatigue uniform. I figured because of the season and the weather that the test would be at an indoor, heated swimming pool. I soon learned the awful truth. The test was going to be administered outside in a pool full of near freezing water.

I knew immediately that this was not going to be easy. I also knew the cadre was using this as a tactic to try and break the candidates down and cause then to give up and quit. I was told it was part of the process, but I was surprised that it would occur on the very first day of school.

Having advanced warning about this weeding out system, I had worked on myself and steeled myself for harassment and un-reasonable treatment and I had developed the attitude that I was not going to quit under any circumstances. Quitting was not in my vocabulary and not on my mind that day or any other day during the training. I would never throw in the towel. No, I had resolved that I was going to go on no matter what challenges and obstacles the instructors threw at me.

The first station of the test was a blindfolded leap off the high board in combat boots, fatigues toting a rifle. I remember hitting that water. “Oh my God this can’t be real” as the shock rippled through the body---it was like electricity. The muscles went numb and coming to the surface was a struggle.

The first time in was an absolute killer but worse yet was the fact that the test took almost all day to complete because there were five stations that two hundred candidates had to successfully pass through. In between the actual test, while a nice brisk wind was blowing, each candidate stood on the side of the pool in soaking wet clothes waiting his turn before re-entering the water.

The waiting was absolute torture. It was so bad that suddenly a lot of people simply decided they could not cope with the water and the temperature. They began to walk away in droves back to the barracks and back to their units beaten on the first day.

For us hangers-on, well, our knees were slamming together. Also I felt like I was shaking internally as well as outwardly. There was another strange physical reaction, which I must share. I, along with many others, suffered a major under carriage reduction event and many of us also lost sight of our other thing. The fact of the matter is that the entire undercarriage retracted and disappeared not to be seen for about eleven days. As the reader might suspect, the under carriage retraction phenomenon can be embarrassing and it can also be a sobering development. When you can’t find yourself for several days you do lose a good part of your self-esteem.

Going through some old photos I found the the one above which is a shot of me careening into the frozen Chattahoochee River at Ft Benning during the preliminary part of the Ranger Course. The rope is about 35 feet above the river and the river was frozen--so the instructors cut a hole inthe ice and the idea was to land in the hole. Great fun.

In retrospect that first day was a real killer. We lost about one hundred forty candidates. Suddenly our class was cut to sixty remaining hard core soldiers. We ultimately graduated forty-eight fully-trained Ranger personnel.

I got to know each of the graduates on a personal basis and came to trust each of them and to rely on them totally. They were well trained, honorable, dedicated and we were all very close to each other. To participate and complete the Ranger course with my fellow students was probably the best demonstration of male bonding and male team building that I have ever witnessed in my life. I do not know where any of these Rangers are today--but I do remember many names and if I met them tomorrow I imagine we would be friends. As students we helped each other, pulled together, covered for each other and grew together. We truly graduated as an elite military organization.

The Ranger training experiences gave me a lot of determination later in life--in both good and tough times. When I lose focus I can think back on those trials and tests and on some occasions it has helped me to regain my composure. A little fire and a few tests and passing through the trial of a very demanding military course of instruction can show the candidate his inner strength, his resolve and his capability to react under great stress and tension. Life is filled with challenges and being a Ranger candidate simply puts great emphasis on a concentrated series of tests and risk taking measures. And when added together, such an experience accelerates growth toward maturity, leadership and results in success more often then in failure.

Virginia Military Institute

Colonel Harold Dorsett sent Captain Black Jack Murphy and me to the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia to meet the School Commandant and arrange an invitation for the cadets of VMI to travel to Fort Lee, Virginia to witness an airborne demonstration.

Jack and I jumped into an Army Otter and took off for VMI. I noticed that Jack had brought two maneuverable parachutes along and I asked him why. He simply smiled.

Jack was a great army companion, a West Point graduate; he had a major accident when during a training incident an artillery round exploded near him and gouged out his eye.

The accident didn’t stop Jack—he was full of life and full of fun. He would go to parties with a set of glass eyeballs in his pocket that included question marks, written messages, the 8 ball, the ace of spades, king of hearts and a variety of other images embossed on the fake eye. He would install the crazy eyes after everyone had a few drinks and it always elicited a lot of laughs.

Jack was a man’s man and a wonderful soldier warrior and a good friend.

So we headed to VMI and when we reached the campus we flew over the grass landing strip and spotted our contact guy on the ground---Captain Bob “Machine Gun” Drudik who was waving at us as we flew past.

However, there was a problem and the problem was a strong wind that was blowing across the grass runway. The plane could not land due to the wind and if we flew to the municipal airport we would be delayed well over two hours.

Jack hollered to me saying “Lets Jump”

I said, “What do you mean let’s jump---the wind is so bad that the plane cannot land and yet you want to jump?”

“Of course,” he responded.

I said, “Jack we have no medical coverage, no permission to jump from the local authorities and we don’t have Dorsett’s permission to use his parachutes.”

Jack said, “Yes, I know now throw out the wind streamer on our next pass over the runway and let’ see where it goes. The wind streamer took off and disappeared in the strong gusty wind.

Without a word Murphy put on his parachute and leaped out and I had no choice but to follow. The wind was very strong and Murphy was well off in the distance during his descent.

I tried to maneuver my chute but I didn’t get what I wanted in steer-ability. As I am looking around to locate Machine Gun and Black Jack I suddenly see a large barn with an aluminum roof and I am heading right for it. I try to maneuver to miss the barn but seem to be on a course to hit the barbed wire fence running off the end of the barn. As I get closer it is clear that I am going to hit the fence and as an added feature there is an unhappy, mature, full grown, snorting and stamping bull in the barnyard.

I slam into the fence, back first, and the parachute drapes over the fence and is billowing in the wind making the bull very unhappy. He is snorting and carrying on and the wind is blowing and pinning me to the barbed wire leaving me with an uncomfortable barbed wire feeling.

After a long hard run my two buddies reach the barnyard and unhook the chute and the bull calms down. The three of us spend the next fifteen minutes laughing uncontrollably.

We arranged the invitation for the visit by the cadets and had to be driven to town where the Army Otter was located so we could fly back to Fort Lee. We arrived in Colonel Dorsett’s office at about 1700 hours.

We had to tell him that we had taken two parachutes (“accountable” items) and had made an unauthorized parachute jump at VMI.

We reported to the Colonel and Black Jack began to paint the story of the day----and as he laid out the events of the day the Colonel’s face was getting redder and redder.

Suddenly he jumped to his feet and hugged us and shook our hands screamed out,

“You boys are heroes. You have saved the day because we have gone for 630 days with at least one parachute jump on each of those days. Our string was about to be broken today due to high winds---but you two nut cases saved the day and kept our record alive. Let’s go get a beer!!!”

And that was the end of our illegal parachute jump and just another day in the Army.

Colonel Harold Dorsett

Fort Lee, Virginia is the setting and the Airborne Department of the US Army Quartermaster School the organization involved.

Colonel Harold Dorsett is the Director of the Airborne Department and he is a tough old coot with a booming voice and a rather short temper. He, was in charge of the Parachute Packing and Parachute Air Delivery Department of the Quartermaster School---tough paratroop boys. Harold had invited the Cadets at VMI to come to Ft. Lee to witness an airborne demonstration. The public was also invited and it was to be an exciting day with three or four thousand civilians and the cadets coming to witness the event.

I was a captain at the time and one of Harold Dorsett’s crew. I went to the drop zone early and my job was to jump out of an Army Otter airplane and serve as a so-called “wind dummy.” The wind dummy helped the follow on skydivers to see how the wind might impact there parachute flight path. This technique was used long before the sophistication of skydiving we know today.

Two of my companions and I flew across the drop zone and jumped out at the appropriate time. We let the wind take our parachutes on a nice ride and we drifted across the drop zone and as a result the skydivers who would follow us could get a good idea of how the wind would affect their flight path. When I landed, I removed my parachute, and my job was done for the day so I went to the bleacher area and took a seat to watch the big show.

Dorsett and his bunch of skydivers took off and flew to altitude for their demonstration jump. As they were making their final approach I had a strange, powerful premonition--I knew Colonel Dorsett was going to land in the middle of the parking lot and on top of my car.

I so believed this would happen that I ran to my car as the jumpers left the airplane and I watched them descend. Sure enough, the colonel--and only the colonel--was heading for the parking lot (which was full of cars) and on course to hit my car. At the last moment before impact he raised his feet which allowed him to clear the top of a Volkswagen by inches and he smashed into the side of my vehicle. I owned a four door station wagon and he hit the back door on the passenger side, breaking the window glass, cutting his hands, placing his chin on the top of the car, loosening up all his teeth, crushing the door, breaking two ribs and leaving large abrasions on his knees all before coming to rest on the ground, on his back between my car and the Volkswagen.

I was standing over Colonel D and he said to me, “What the hell was that all about? Did I hit your car?”

I responded with a “Yes Sir.”

He countered with, “Very good--at least we kept it in the family.”

Colonel Dorsett retired about six months after the incident and at his retirement party we gave him the door. We had painted our names on the door and he was mightily surprised to receive such a valued gift.

Colonel Dorsett went on to become a professor at a university somewhere in the USA (I do not know where). Some several months later it was reported by one of the Airborne Department officers who visited Dorsett in his new home after his retirement that:

"The mighty Colonel Dorsett had hung the battered door with our names painted on it in a place of honor in his home------over the fireplace in the living room."

I will always remember the colorful gentleman who was Colonel Harold Dorsett.