Spokesman Editor
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When I PCS'd to Athens for my first tour, I was grounded for quite some time because I had undergone open-heart surgery while I was in Hebrew School. Because of that, I was asked if I'd like to take on the additional duty of Information NCO for the Detachment. The job consisted of sending articles of general interest to the Stars & Stripes, the Air Fprce Times and The Spokesman. Most of the articles consisted of recaps of our unit's playing prowess on the various playing fields: basketball, football, softball, etc. Once in a while there would be a personal anecdote about one of the members of the Detachment.
Captain Rory Foran was the Information Officer. He also was a prolific article writer and gave me many to send on. I burn-bagged all of them as they weren't particularly interesting or funny. Our Squqdron Commander, Major Graham, sometimes submitted articles that suffered the same fate as those of Captain Rory.
About the time I got a new trick chief, Don McGary, I also went back on status and Don asked me if I'd like him to take over the Information NCO duties. I said sure and told him mainly what the duties were. I also briefed him on Foran's fancying himself as F. Scott Fitzgerald or another great American writer and told Don what the disposition instructions for Rory's missives were. Don got a charge out of that.
Anyway, Captain Foran decided that he'd also brief Don. He mentioned the various venues to consider but failed to mention The Spokesman. When Don asked about it, Rory replied, "The Spokesman? Fuck The Spokesman! I've submitted about fifty articles to that crap rag and they never published a one." Don later told me it what all he could do to hold in the laughter.