Bo gritz

[one_shift_eight]

I am currently reading the book Mobile guerrilla force: With The Special Forces In War Zone D by James C. Donahue and I was wondering if the leader, James Gritz, is the same man that got involved in the Laos POW affair and the ruby ridge fiasco?

If so did any of you serve with this man? What are your opinions of him?

http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Guerril.../dp/0312961642

[f50lrrp]

I served with him in RVN for the beginning of my time with B-36. He was fanatically loyal to his troops as any one man could be. He was transferred out and replaced by Bob Lunday.

General Westmoreland called him "The finest small unit commander that he had ever met".

That was before Gritz resigned his commmission to take on the MIA issues. Since then he has been many things to many people.

I still stand by him (as he was in RVN) and won't say anything negative about him. He was a true warrior.

Talk about an old thread.

I've met LTC Gritz on several occasions. Starting in 1986, 1988 and then again 1989.

Some will say he is full of himselve.

I heard he had a tough time after his wife left him, attempted suicide, business failings, etc.

But a Letuli and Hillar he is not.

[Dusty]

His kid worked at Pre-Phase in '83, and he brought Bo out there to give a little hot wash about the POW/MIA trip he took. Bo got a case of the jaws at me when I asked him whether he had any photos of actual POW/MIA's. Something seemed a little fishy about him to me on first impression.

Then, I found out he spent money slated for Commo gear on a katoey as a joke in Bangkok. That didn't seem like a cool thing to do, to me, at the time.

Finally, when I got stationed at C/3/7 and saw the photo of him when he was the Battalion Commander all dressed up in a karate gi (breaking a board, if I remember correctly) I definitely considered him a tad self-aggrandizing.

These impressions in concert led me to think him egocentric, but in my mind it would be impossible to hold, for long, a negative opinion about a soldier who accomplished what he did.

Besides, I've done things a lot stupider than he ever could.

[Green Light]

I remember that picture. I thought it was kinda inappropriate for a "former commander picture." But I think that it captured him. He was very complex. All of us have our "eccentric" side and I guess that was his.

I've seen few commanders who were the complete package. Col Trumble was a heck of a guy - he was nearly worshiped as a company commander but admitted he made some major mistakes as a Bn Cdr leading up to Just Cause. Col McCracken was a phenomenal peacetime administrator/commander but fell VERY short as a combat commander.

Bo's time was in Southeast Asia. He was the right man for the job and was by all accounts one of the best. I think that he was a bit lost in the peacetime army. I hope that folks remember the great things he did.

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by Green Light

I remember that picture. I thought it was kinda inappropriate for a "former commander picture." But I think that it captured him. He was very complex. All of us have our "eccentric" side and I guess that was his.

I've seen few commanders who were the complete package. Col Trumble was a heck of a guy - he was nearly worshiped as a company commander but admitted he made some major mistakes as a Bn Cdr leading up to Just Cause. Col McCracken was a phenomenal peacetime administrator/commander but fell VERY short as a combat commander.

Bo's time was in Southeast Asia. He was the right man for the job and was by all accounts one of the best. I think that he was a bit lost in the peacetime army. I hope that folks remember the great things he did.

I'm with you on that.

[Richard]

I only met him once in passing at Fort Bragg but knew guys with him in the MGF who swore by him and guys with him in 3-7th who didn't.

For my part, I have never been able to get by his POW/MIA shenanigans and this picture he had taken of himself - hard to imagine a soldier doing this.

MOO and YMMV...and so it goes...

Richard