"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: SGT. GREIGO'S FLAK JACKET
From: "Ragnar"
Date: 3/2/04 7:08 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:


"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Sgt. Greigo's Flak Jacket

Emilio Griego was our engineer/tail gunner. He was short smiley fellow
with a
shy grin and a shy manner. When you spoke to him he would look at the
ground,
smiling but always answer you with a snappy "Yes Sir" and get to work
with
great energy and dedication. He was a very good engineer and Paul (Paul
Shorts
Lake Charles LA our pilot) depended on him a lot to work with the
mechanics to
keep "Willie" in good shape. Very often he would be up all through the
night
working with the mechanics to make sure all would be well for the
morning
mission. He was a good soldier, a fine fellow and an asset to our crew
that we
all appreciated. But he did have one shortcoming, he wouldn't follow
orders. A
particular set of orders that is. He would never wear his flak jacket.
He
would
sit on it. We would scream at him to put the damn jacket on. He would
smile and
say "yes sir, I'll wear it". But on the next mission it was the same
thing.
Ordering, screaming, yelling, threatening could never get Griego to
wear
that
damn flak jacket.

So you let a man deliberately and repeatedly disobey a direct order?
Didn't
the officers on your crew have any balls at all?


No balls at all. At least not as much as you had when you flew all your
missions.. Tell us about it

I don't have to fly missions in WW2 to know that deliberately and repeatedly
disobeying a direct order reflects badly on any officer who condones the
activity. That was as true in the AAC then as it is now in the USAF.

So why wasn't the man disciplined after deliberately and repeatedly defying
a direct order?