Dan
06-24-2004, 09:48
...or are going 18C you'll get to know Ernie.This (http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=military&Story=6412967) was from today's Fayetteville Observer Military Section:
At 73, Tabata still teaching young soldiers
By Henry Cuningham
Military editor
By one estimate, every Special Forces engineer on active duty was trained by Ernest K. Tabata.
Tabata, a gentle, humble man, was a combat engineer in the Korean War and belonged to a secret special operations unit that went behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War. At 73, the retired command sergeant major delights in teaching soldiers young enough to be his grandchildren.
Special Forces engineers are the experts on the 12-man A-team in both building and demolitions. That comes in handy both for combat missions and goodwill ventures in which Green Berets must be equally proficient. The engineers' secondary job is to be responsible for supplies and logistics.
''I'm talking in Iraq, in Afghanistan, around the world, there is not an engineer on a team that was not trained by Ernie Tabata,'' said 1st Sgt. Adam Tillinghast. ''That is quite an accomplishment right there.''
Tabata trains Special Forces candidates at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
''The reward I get today is when these guys return from Afghanistan or from Iraq or much less the Philippines and give me a little after-action report,'' he said. ''It's gratifying to know that you've done a good job training these guys.''
In May, Tabata became the first former enlisted soldier to receive the Bull Simons Award from the U.S. Special Operations Command at Tampa, Fla. Other recipients include Ross Perot, retired four-star generals and people who served as secretary of defense and secretary of the Army.
''I was surprised,'' he said. ''I feel very honored. I am overwhelmed by this prize.''
Tabata served with Simons on the White Star Mobile Training Team in Laos, advising the Royal Lao Army. Perot donated a larger-than-life statue of the legendary Simons that stands across from the JFK Center and School on Fort Bragg.
''Quite a man, quite a warrior,'' Tabata said. ''The first time I met him was over in Laos during White Star. He was a quiet man, a man of few words. When he spoke, everybody listened. He had a sense of humor, too.''
Tabata, whose parents were Japanese, first put on a military uniform in 1947 as a member of the Air National Guard in Hawaii before Hawaii became a state. He draws on his military experience as a teacher when he talks about how to analyze a target.
''The one thing I always take back from his class is he would start each class with a little SF story, something that happened to him or somebody he knew during his career,'' said Tillinghast, 43, the senior enlisted soldier in Company B of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group. ''We are talking times from the Korean War all the way up to the 1980s. He would just begin it with that little story, relating it to what we were doing. That kind of brought it all home to us.''
Sgt. 1st Class Curtis Parsons said Tabata taught him to love demolitions.
''Mr. Tabata, from what I've seen, is probably the hardest-working person I've ever met,'' Parsons said. ''At 73, I think he puts in more hours than any of my younger instructors that are less than half that age.''
Parsons is now chief instructor of the engineer committee.
Tabata also has made contributions in research and development.
He helped develop the Explosive Form Penetrator, a device used to penetrate steel and break up concrete walls. He also worked on the Special Operations Forces demolition kit and the SLAM, the Selectable Lightweight Attack Munition and a time-delay firing device.
''In the early stages, I acted as a consultant and, you might say, a tester,'' Tabata said.
Tabata said being careful is the key to being in a dangerous job and living a long life.
''First of all, you can't sacrifice safety for anything else,'' he said. ''Safety is the utmost importance. The other thing is making sure the students are not ahead of you at all times. You've got to be very watchful. They get ahead of the instruction. They are young. They are very motivated, and they are excited. At times they try to get ahead of you so you have to nip it in the bud.''
Thomas ''Pappy'' Jones, a retired sergeant major, also works for the engineer committee and has worked with Tabata for years.
''There is an old saying in Asia that long after a man dies his spirit lives as long as somebody remembers his name,'' Jones said. ''If that saying is true, and I believe it is, Ernie Tabata is going to be with us for an awful long time to come.''
Military editor Henry Cuningham can be reached at cuninghamh@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3585.
At 73, Tabata still teaching young soldiers
By Henry Cuningham
Military editor
By one estimate, every Special Forces engineer on active duty was trained by Ernest K. Tabata.
Tabata, a gentle, humble man, was a combat engineer in the Korean War and belonged to a secret special operations unit that went behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War. At 73, the retired command sergeant major delights in teaching soldiers young enough to be his grandchildren.
Special Forces engineers are the experts on the 12-man A-team in both building and demolitions. That comes in handy both for combat missions and goodwill ventures in which Green Berets must be equally proficient. The engineers' secondary job is to be responsible for supplies and logistics.
''I'm talking in Iraq, in Afghanistan, around the world, there is not an engineer on a team that was not trained by Ernie Tabata,'' said 1st Sgt. Adam Tillinghast. ''That is quite an accomplishment right there.''
Tabata trains Special Forces candidates at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
''The reward I get today is when these guys return from Afghanistan or from Iraq or much less the Philippines and give me a little after-action report,'' he said. ''It's gratifying to know that you've done a good job training these guys.''
In May, Tabata became the first former enlisted soldier to receive the Bull Simons Award from the U.S. Special Operations Command at Tampa, Fla. Other recipients include Ross Perot, retired four-star generals and people who served as secretary of defense and secretary of the Army.
''I was surprised,'' he said. ''I feel very honored. I am overwhelmed by this prize.''
Tabata served with Simons on the White Star Mobile Training Team in Laos, advising the Royal Lao Army. Perot donated a larger-than-life statue of the legendary Simons that stands across from the JFK Center and School on Fort Bragg.
''Quite a man, quite a warrior,'' Tabata said. ''The first time I met him was over in Laos during White Star. He was a quiet man, a man of few words. When he spoke, everybody listened. He had a sense of humor, too.''
Tabata, whose parents were Japanese, first put on a military uniform in 1947 as a member of the Air National Guard in Hawaii before Hawaii became a state. He draws on his military experience as a teacher when he talks about how to analyze a target.
''The one thing I always take back from his class is he would start each class with a little SF story, something that happened to him or somebody he knew during his career,'' said Tillinghast, 43, the senior enlisted soldier in Company B of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group. ''We are talking times from the Korean War all the way up to the 1980s. He would just begin it with that little story, relating it to what we were doing. That kind of brought it all home to us.''
Sgt. 1st Class Curtis Parsons said Tabata taught him to love demolitions.
''Mr. Tabata, from what I've seen, is probably the hardest-working person I've ever met,'' Parsons said. ''At 73, I think he puts in more hours than any of my younger instructors that are less than half that age.''
Parsons is now chief instructor of the engineer committee.
Tabata also has made contributions in research and development.
He helped develop the Explosive Form Penetrator, a device used to penetrate steel and break up concrete walls. He also worked on the Special Operations Forces demolition kit and the SLAM, the Selectable Lightweight Attack Munition and a time-delay firing device.
''In the early stages, I acted as a consultant and, you might say, a tester,'' Tabata said.
Tabata said being careful is the key to being in a dangerous job and living a long life.
''First of all, you can't sacrifice safety for anything else,'' he said. ''Safety is the utmost importance. The other thing is making sure the students are not ahead of you at all times. You've got to be very watchful. They get ahead of the instruction. They are young. They are very motivated, and they are excited. At times they try to get ahead of you so you have to nip it in the bud.''
Thomas ''Pappy'' Jones, a retired sergeant major, also works for the engineer committee and has worked with Tabata for years.
''There is an old saying in Asia that long after a man dies his spirit lives as long as somebody remembers his name,'' Jones said. ''If that saying is true, and I believe it is, Ernie Tabata is going to be with us for an awful long time to come.''
Military editor Henry Cuningham can be reached at cuninghamh@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3585.