Father's Day has always elicited that Banty Rooster...

---

My father is a Warrior - Eleven Bravo...

 ... Infantryman.

I am the Infantry.

I am my country’s strength in War,
her deterrent in peace.

I am the heart of the fight –
wherever, whenever.

I carry America’s faith and honor
against her enemies.

I am the queen of Battle

I am what my country expects me to be –
the best trained soldier in the world.

In the race for victory,
I am swift, determined, and courageous,
armed with a fierce will to win.

Never will I fail my country’s trust.
Always I fought on –
through the foe,
to the objective,
to triumph over all.

If necessary, I fight to my death.

By my steadfast courage,
I have won 200 years of freedom.

I yield not:
to hunger,
to cowardice,
to fatigue,
to superior odds,
for I am mentally tough, physically strong,
and morally straight.

I forsake not –
my country,
my mission,
my comrades,
my sacred duty.

I am relentless

I am always there,
now and forever.

I AM THE INFANTRY!
FOLLOW ME!

Thanks to SSG Daw's completion of Jungle Warfare School after years of training on the Big Island, Hawaii, he was extended an invitation to Vietnam...

Gallantry in Action, Tet, January 1968, awarded the Silver Star and ...

... designated KIA after his amazing heroic efforts, providing egress for dozens of his fellow soldiers...

Yes, Martha, my father was declared KIA, due to the Cloud of War, and he stopped getting paid (!)

My father was truly honored - and provided a better reward than that KIA designation - by his selection for the cadre at CMA.  

Jungle Warfare Special Operators, again, were ensured that trip to Southeast Asia...

Another lengthy absence from his family...

Upon his return to the States, a most demanding and unprecedented change in TRADOC awaited this combat veteran.

The Army leadership wanted my father's talents yet again at Fort Knox, preparing the Best of the Best for a paradigm shift in the basic training of United States Army soldiers.

Thanks to Jimmy Carter (!)

Perhaps the genesis of DEI and the illogical and demonic idea of women = men infected our nation at this point.

The idea of men and women serving alongside in combat units, discarding meritocracy, was given the green light by a Naval Academy graduate!

Again, the US Navy is the birthplace of the deleterious dogma so damaging to our national security seen in the last thirty years.

 There was envy among my fellow UTC ROTC cadets...

Many runs during my years at UTC, logging in hundreds of miles, proudly wearing the shirt my father sent from Panama...

Fort Sherman -

The Green  Hell.

I made sure the Black Hats at Fort Benning noticed, perhaps diminishing the hatred they had for cadets... 

*  Above image is not the actual T-shirt; could not find a picture of the yellow version I wore...

 Most often initial question:

"Where did you buy that, their eyes widening..."

That Banty was in full display when my proud response indicated that my father, Sergeant Major 

Ted Daw and Commandant of the NCO Academy at Fort Sherman, had provided it for me.

SGM Daw knew I would be surrounded by Manly Men, training to become Warriors...

His stature within the Army clinched my selection for a four year ROTC scholarship as a seventeen year old.

His knowledge of the top Senior ROTC programs in the country guided me to UTC.

My father knew that this program, responsible for one of the top Airborne Graduate % in the nation, had cadre who would appreciate the status of our nation's premier jungle operations training center.

Indeed.

All the cadre in my four years of ROTC at UTC were Airborne Rangers.  

Two were Green Berets.

Father's Day 2026 was preceded the previous day by a most important Birthday -

My beautiful Mother and the Sergeant Major's bride...

... now providing Overwatch with my incredible bride, Lisa.