Soldier for Life

Editor’s note: Charles Ross, COL, USAR Ret., is a field sales consultant for Henry Schein, servicing accounts in central Arkansas. He began his career in medical sales with Delta Surgical in Memphis, Tenn., in April 1990, and has been working in medical sales ever since. Repertoire asked Ross to write about his experiences in the military and their impact on his personal and professional life.

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When I was growing up, most of my friends after high school graduation either joined the military or went to college, as the Vietnam war directed the choices for young men. I decided to go to college and join the ROTC program, because I wanted to be an officer. During the ’60s and ’70s, we still had the draft, and most everyone had to join the military at some point in time.

I was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, Quartermaster, U.S. Army, 23 January 1970. My life as a logistician was just beginning and it has continued for 29 years in the military and 25 years with the medical supply industry. The definition of Logistics: The aspect of military science dealing with the procurement, receipt, storage, maintenance, and transportation of military materiel, facilities, and personnel. Henry Schein could use the same definition and it would not be too different from the military.

After going to basic Quartermaster school, my first assignment was the Germersheim Army depot in Germany. The first two years were a great lesson in logistics. I was then re-assigned to Vietnam in April 1972 and served there until March 1973.

Vietnam
My first assignment was with the 1st Cav, 3rd Brigade, Air Mobile Division in Bien Hoa, Vietnam. We maintained the inventory of repair parts of all the equipment the Division utilized. I was the officer in charge of the warehouse operation while maintaining sufficient inventory for our equipment; we were shipping excess inventory to Okinawa.

The 1st Cav stood down and was sent back to Fort Hood, Texas. I was re-assigned to the 266th Composite Service Battalion in Long Binh Depot. Our primary mission was warehouse operations for about 10 warehouses we were preparing to give to the South Vietnamese Army in October 1972. Once the Vietnamese Army took control of the warehouses, I was re-assigned to the Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon. For the last six months I was in Vietnam, I was in charge of the initial issue facility for personal clothing and equipment for new personnel coming into Vietnam. The facility also would take back all of those items once the individuals left Vietnam. I left Vietnam on March 25, 1973.

I had assignments at Fort Bragg, NC, Fort Lee, Va., and Fort Sill, Okla., before deciding to leave active duty and get out of the Army in 1977. I was out of the Army for about five months when a friend recommended that I join his Army Reserve unit in El Dorado, Ark. I joined the 321st Materiel Management Center in October 1977 and stayed assigned to the 321st MMC until reassignment to the 321st MMC in Baton Rouge, La., which was activated in September 1990 to go to Operation Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia.

Desert Storm
We were the second reserve unit to arrive in Saudi Arabia, and our mission was to provide Materiel Support and Services to all units assigned to the war zone of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. At the peak of the war buildup, we maintained supplies and services for 500,000 soldiers.

Once we got our warehouse set up and operational on the Port of Dammam, my primary job was to purchase all the petroleum products stored in 55-gallon drums and smaller. I worked with two Saudi contractors to get the petroleum products shipped to our warehouses. We bought most of the products through the local contractor because it was cheaper and faster to purchase locally than to have the items shipped from the United States – which would have taken six weeks by ship. We did purchase specialty items used primarily in desert warfare from contract sources in Belgium, Germany and Great Britain.

After the conclusion of the war, we spent the last three months in Saudi Arabia preparing equipment to be shipped back to the United States. The retrograde process included the complete wash-down of all vehicles and tanks that were in the war zone. We did not want to bring back any vehicles that might have had anthrax in the dirt. Our unit left Saudi Arabia in July 1991, and we have had a special mission in Kuwait ever since. We send reservists to Kuwait all year long to take care of our logistics mission. I was re-assigned to the 377 TAACOM in New Orleans, where I was promoted to Colonel, 06, and three years later, I retired (in 1999).

Lessons learned
When I was a commander of a company while in Fort Bragg, N.C., I had a field service company that had to be prepared to support the 82^nd Airborne Division on 72-hour notice. That means that when the 82nd left Pope Air Force base, we were 72 hours behind them, ready to support their mission. That mission had a lot of pressure associated with it, and you learned how to lead your men so they learned how to cope with their lives better.

You know you can do your job under all kinds of pressure. Medical salespeople experience similar kinds of pressure, but you learn to deal with it because you have experienced pressure and lived through it. A big lesson learned is knowing how to deal with people and the stress they experience in their day-to-day job, trying to maintain a supply inventory at their offices. It is my job to make sure that they know what they need and to get it to them on time.

The most important lesson learned is to think outside the box while doing your job. How to do your job is not always in writing, and the people you deal with do not always understand how to accomplish the mission if it is not in their procedural manual. Our motto in my company was: “Can do anytime, anywhere!”

I always remember our men and women on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day by flying the Flag. I have a monthly donation set up for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Once a soldier, always a soldier … A Soldier for Life.