European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 13, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Waller walking stick in hand talks to a tank crewman during a recent visit to Hohenfels and or Afenko or. The 8th in div commander s favorite sayings use common sense and if it Ain t broke Don t fix is photo by Wendy Bourland Down to Earth general army photo by spec. Pat Kilpatrick by Wendy Bourland staff writer a e walks into a room and it s like Ever seen Star wars Darth Vader Only he s not Darth Vader. He s the Young 8th inf div sergeant in Bac Kreuz Nach West Germany was talking about his commander maj. Gen. Calvin Waller. At 6 2" and 212 pounds Waller a native of Baton Rouge la., has t developed the paunch or the softness of the desk jockey. Regular running and racquetball see to that. His face is unlined and his close Cut wiry hair is just beginning to Gray. This airborne Soldier made his last jump two years ago at age 48. Most of the division s 18,000 troops have yet to meet Waller but he s working on it. He said he s visited every battalion in the division at least once twice or More if necessary. Most of the division Headquarters staff know him. He s More Down to Earth than the last general was said spec. Simone Seager. I m a general and i have the Power and i want everything so she said imitating Waller s predecessor. She said Power tripping in t Waller s style. The general is willing to get dirty with his troops. He s into having everybody trained up on i think his rank has t gone to his head said sgt. Charmaine Edwards. If you did t know he was a general you would t think he was a in Waller s spacious office at Rose Barracks in bad Kreuz Nach amid the plaques and other unit Memorabilia hanging on the Walls there s a Small Oil painting of a Shoeshine boy. The artist is Marion Waller his wife of 29 years. I keep that painting to remind me that no matter where i go never forget where i started the son of a veterinarian said shining shoes was one of the first ways he earned Money. In 1953, Waller left Louisiana for Houston. From there he went to Prairie View a & m University in Prairie View Texas to study pre med. He was going to become a veterinarian like his father. The school had a mandatory two year Roth program and Waller found he liked it. Since the draft was on he decided to become an officer rather than a draftee. At 19, he went into the advanced Roth program and left the school As a distinguished military graduate in 1959. At graduation Waller took Stock of his future. Blacks had limited possibilities in the 1950s. I could be a teacher a professional person Liuti a veterinarian or a mailman he said. There were not a lot of opportunities in the South then. The army was the most integrated. I decided to give it a Waller still wanted to become a veterinarian so he decided to join the army for three years get out and use his veterans benefits to finish medical school. The rest is history he said. Waller s biography reveals he has served in mostly staff and training command positions though he id a tour in Vietnam As joint operations officer for theft military assistance come and saw fighting in thai dominican Republic while assistant training office for 2nd brigade 82nd airborne div out of it. Bragg . There Are times i wish i could have been at some of the big Battles that took place he said. There Are times when As a professional Soldier you see units being deployed to Grenada to Beirut to other hot spots. You ask yourself As you watch them go off should t i be with them rather than at the Pentagon Waller said he sought training assignments because the rubber meets the Road. Some people Are comfortable in the Pentagon. I would rather be in a division where you re closer to the soldiers than in a staff sgt. Brad Nolcini and spec. Vince Trevino Are Waller s Drivers. They spend More time with the general than any other enlisted people in the division. Trevino smiled As he told the Story of a division exercise last Winter during which he capt. Bren Flanagan Waller s aide and the general were travelling in a Cucu followed by Nolcini in a 21/2 ton truck. They were moving from site to site and the truck s defroster was t working. Freezing rain was coming Down i could t see said Nolcini. I had to keep flashing them to pull after they d pulled Over a few times Trevino started to jump out and help Nolcini but Waller stopped him saying stay right the general got out of the Cucu walked Back to the truck and began scraping ice off the Windshield. I would have had to climb up and Over. He did t have to climb up Nolcini said. He just reached up and did it. It was something else. I did t expect it of Waller is philosophical about the incident. Why does a Brave Man go out when they re firing bullets and bring Back soldiers when he does t have to Why does a general scrape a Windshield when he does t have to it was easiest for me to do it. Generals Don t do it but i do a lot of things generals Don t he smiles. I dial and answer my own telephones on Waller said he has been asked How he can be so Friendly to his subordinates. A lot of general officers can t seem to draw that line. I can be Friendly and warm to anybody but when it s time to get to serious business i draw the line. My style and what i do is totally alien to a lot of officers. There have been a lot of people that have said i Don t believe that Guy s for real.1 " Waller said he s made some changes in division operations since taking command. He saw extremely Long working hours in some units and made the commanders Cut them. At the same time he placed stronger emphasis on training though budget cuts have hampered his efforts. Waller said he won t tolerate abuse of soldiers by commanders. He gave examples. Officers and cos who decide to shake the troops out at 2000 for a full Field layout or Rucksack March for no reason other than that individual thinks it s Good training. In a motor Pool inspection i found a dirty vehicle that did t meet my standards. Therefore Well come in on saturday and Wash every one of them. officers and enlisted personnel alike in the division quote what they say Are Waller s two favorite sayings use common sense and if it Ain t broke Don t fix it s not just words that he says. It s the Way he lives said capt. Stephen Buckland an intelligence officer at 8th inf div he. He said he has observed Waller in the Field several times. He a realist. He knows things Aren t going to work perfectly Buckland said. I be seen him upset but he lets people do their jobs. Some people won t let you do on a visit in May to Hohenfels and or Afenko or West Germany where 8th inf div units were engaged in exercise Comanche Waller talked to battalion commanders track commanders squad leaders and regular soldiers. His sentences were peppered with the phrase does this make sense he asks the troops things he really wants to ask said sgt. Erik Marquez of co a 3rd in. He s not just being the Tow missile Section Leader had been posted As a vip reception no in anticipation of Waller s appearance at or Afenko or Range 213. Waller s first order of business upon arriving was to relieve Marquez of that duty. Then the general walked Over to a Cluster of tracked vehicles. Marquez has seen Waller before. He comes out and asks a lot of questions of the average Soldier. Hell ask an officer that s not in charge what s going Marquez grinned. He definitely gave me some answers As to Why i m standing Here waiting for Marquez returned to his task at a nearby ammo dump. As Waller walked around the vehicles he hit the tires with his Ever present walking stick a pole the thickness of a Man s Arm and capped with brass on both ends. Thump thump. Tire pressure of. He quizzed a Section Leader about his mos and duties extensively testing the Young Man s knowledge of his Job. The Soldier at first answered the general in a quavering voice then he steadied and poured out a Stream of information. Another Exchange went like this Waller to Soldier what can i do for you Soldier sir Waller what can i do to make your life easier Soldier fidgeting everything s Fine. Waller later you re going to go Back to your squad Leader and say i wish i would have said something. The Soldier smiled slightly then admitted he disliked t rations. A Short discussion on the subject followed. Waller talked to a few More soldiers then asked for a dismounting demonstration right there in the tank parking lot. A vehicle Crew obliged while the general kept track of the time on his Wristwatch. After the Drill and a few comments he ordered the squad together in a relaxed Assembly in front of their vehicle. You did a Good Job Guys. You just need a better reaction time. You know what the hell you re doing he said. As Waller talked a Soldier from another vehicle came Over and snapped a picture of the group with an instamatic camera. The battalion commander it. Col. Mark Barbour was at Waller s Side during the entire visit. Barbour found himself quizzed As extensively As his troops. This in t the vacant smile and hello son Type of visiting Page 14 the stars and stripes wednesday july 13,1988 Waller with the v corps commander it. Gen. John w. Woodmansee or. The stars and stripes army photo by spec. Pat Kilpatrick Page 15
