RCPO Lyons and I had a problem with each other from day one. He thought because he had a bit of Academy training he was better than the rest of us. His position as head of the company went to his head.
He was forever giving orders, and expecting respect he did not earn. We for the most part felt we had to respect the position but not the man. As I had mentioned earlier, our company was mainly composed of laid back guys. We wanted to survive boot camp and get into the fleet. We were also a group of jokers and pranksters. Often while marching in formation, one of the squad leaders would quietly give a command like "Right turn Harch!" or "Company Halt!" Leaving Lyons marching to his own drummer until he realized he didn't have a company following him. Well one afternoon as we were marching back from a class, one of the Squad Leaders gave the command, "COMPANY, HALF STEP........MARCH!!" Well we went to half-step, and Lyons kept going until hes was a good 75 feet in front of the company! He looked and seen what was going on and returned to us saying "Company....HALT!!" which we did. Well he walked right up to me and said, "I KNOW YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!!!!!", and pulled my dixie cup of my head and slapped me across the face with it. WHOA NELLIE, Well instinct took over and I grabbed him by the throat, and pushed him up against a wall with his feet dangling and was ready to open a big can O' Whup AZZ on him when the guys started yelling "DICKEY NO!!! Look Up!!" Well I looked up and across the passageway and there were all the guards in Unit 4050 looking out their window. I let Lyons fall to the ground, and walked back to the company and shouted "COMPANY.... FORWARD, ....mar CH!!" quite loudly leaving Lyons lying there until he regained composure and followed us back to the barracks.
ell needless to say Lyons went to the Company Commander and reported my part of the incident, and I found my self in the office. I explained to him about the White Hat part of the story, and he gave it some thought. He did not blame me for what I had done, but he was in a position where a member of his company had assaulted a senior member of the company and he had to "Punish me" for assault on a senior Petty Officer" He also counseled and gave Lyons some small punishment. Your basic punishment in Boot Camp, other than 4050, was a "Marching Party". An afternoon of punishment by exercising for 2 hours and they pushed you hard. You had to wear your sweater and black watch camp to go to the marching party so everyone would know you were in trouble. My punishment was 2 marching parties. But he explained I was to dress for the Marching Party and report there but I would be released and would go to the snack bar until time to return back to my company. He felt I was right in my reaction but I had put him in a bad position, I should have just reported the incident to him.
I went along with it, cussed him for giving me marching parties, and told Lyons He better never hit me again.He avoided any other confrontations with me, and I heard after boot leave that 4 members of the company had caught him in the head at the airport and worked him over pretty good. I do know that after our graduation, while waiting for the go home day, a bunch of US me included threw him into the big empty dumpster locked the doors, and beat the dumpster with anything we had to hit with... Paybacks are a BIT&%
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