European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes sunday april 20, 1986 profile in leadership leadership stops failure in its tracks editor s note the army s theme for 1985 was Lead  staff sgt. Charles p. Waters co i1st in 32nd Armor 3rd army div recently was honoured As one of five people soldiers and civilians throughout the army to achieve a remarkable Success Story through outstanding leadership. By Don Tate staff writer his is the Saga of old d-33, a broken Down tank and of a Crew that was sometimes Good enough to hit one target out of 10 if old d 33 made it to the Range before conking out. To say that old d-33 was a rambling wreck would not be accurate. It was most surely a wreck but about the Only place it rambled was to the repair shop. To say ural the Crew of d-33 was a Bunch of losers was one of the sweeter terms used. Bolos. Rag bags. Druggies. Malinger ers. Flakes. Gold bricks. Undesirables. Were others. That was before the sergeant from Kentucky arrived. When i got my briefing recalled staff sgt. Charles p. Waters they told me about this tank an m-60a3 they were having trouble with. When 1 saw it i had to agree that it was us not quite up to Standard. 1 mean not very operational. 1 mean. It was a disaster said 1st it. Robert Naething. He had just taken Over in july As the new platoon Leader his first command and because of old d-33, almost his last. The tank itself had so Many maintenance problems we did t know whether we would Ever get it up again Naething said. Nuts and bolts were missing the lights did t work. It sounds funny but if a fender had 15 bolts there might just be two or three left and everybody was praying the fender would just hang on there. Everybody knew about old d-33. It was a sore sight for eyes. You d Sec All the tanks moving out on a Road March nicely spaced and suddenly the commander would notice there s a tank missing. And after about a half mile Gap Here would come old d-33 dragging along clanking and sputtering trying to catch  Naething knew he had to get help fast. People were always kidding us about it. The Compa Nies would line up and All the other tanks would be out there just gleaming. Everybody would Point at it and say that your tank a Aagha " the lieutenant found the Crew in worse shape than that. Old d-33 s loader a bad conduct and drug Case had just been chartered out on an undesirable Dis charge. D-33 s Driver a generally negative Type registered positive twice in testing for drug use that was when you could find him Naething said. Usually you could t find  soon the Driver was on his Way out of the service. Before Waters arrived Naething had been in com Mand of the platoon less than two hours when there was a brigade inspection. That Crew that tank flunked everything. Every thing. I had been wanting a command so bad and finally gotten one and it looked like i was t even Gonna get through the first Day. I heard i was about to be relieved. The brigade commander called me in. I could see my army career ending. He s a colonel and he s Yelling at me about How Crappy and dismal old d-33 is. And i m sort of speech less. " now just How Many months have you been in command Here lieutenant a couple of hours sir. " Well. Hmm i guess i la leave you there awhile and see what you can do " what Naething did when battalion and company sent him Waters was rejoice. What Waters did was Start from scratch with a new Driver and loader and is photo by Gus Schuettler the new Crew of a revitalized d-33 from top left commander staff sgt. Charles Waters gunner sgt. Anthony Thomas loader pvt. Patrick Stowe and below Driver pfc. David Overman. Then begin rejuvenating the Confidence of the gunner. He spent a lot of time with the gunner Naething said. He Pepper him up helped him sort out his prob lems. Within weeks we saw a 180-degree turn in the gunner. That Soldier would go on to get a promotion and his own  i wanted to turn him around save a Good Soldier Waters said. The thing i did was give him a Pat on the Back when he did Well. He was one of those people who needed it. Before me he seemed to have been under get by Guys who really did t care much one Way or the other. Of course you can t always wait for big daddy to Reward you. You be got to just drive on keep up your own standards. Maybe that s the Best Reward anyway the one you give  the kentuckian saw that a big part of the problem with d-33 was that nothing had been Able to jell for awhile. The outfit had been in transition. One of those rotation things. The tank commander was changing the platoon sergeant was changing the platoon Leader was changing and other changes above that. So there was confusion and things had  Waters started Patching up old d-33 As if he were going to build a shining Monument. He and his Crew went Inch by Inch from head to toe Over that tank writing Down what All was wrong with it Naething said. It took him two Days morn ing till night. I came in late one night and they were still at it. He filled up 12 pages writing Down what was wrong with that  Waters did t wait for All the requisitioned parts to arrive there were too Many. He started scrounging around for anything he could get to put some life into old d-33. Before it was Over they practically rebuilt that tank Naething said. Everyone began to notice changes in the Way the tank ran and the Way the Crew ran it. Within weeks they started seeing All those Good Marks come in on Arteus in gunnery. In gunnery out of a thousand Points you have to get 750 to qualify. The former d-33 Bunch was Lucky to reach a Hundred. They had to Strain to hit one out of 10 targets. _ the company had t had a tank to qualify in the last two Gunnerius and All of a sudden there was old d 33 hitting targets and Delta company shooting High in the brigade. This was after Waters was named master gunner for the  there Are 58 tanks in a battalion Naething said. When Charlie Waters took Over d-33 ranked 58th. Within four months the rambling wreck had moved into the top five. When word came Down that the army was looking for big Success stories Naething sat Down and started writing. He knew he had a whopper. Nobody was laughing at old d-33 anymore. Thanks to modernization a couple of weeks ago old d-33 went the Way of All old steel turned in and replaced by a newer tank. Waters and his Crew currently Are mastering the intricacies of them a Abrams