{"id":648,"date":"2019-04-18T12:54:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T12:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/vietnamwar\/?page_id=648"},"modified":"2019-05-01T17:55:36","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T17:55:36","slug":"adrian-straley","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/vietnamwar\/archive\/adrian-straley\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview of J. Adrian Straley, 2LT U.S.M.C. Vietnam 1965"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leadership is learned and earned, as well as the development of each service member. The following is a depiction of one such leader, 2nd Lieutenant John Adrian Straley of the United States Marine Corps in 1965 with added information from the before and after of his service in Vietnam. The nature of Adrian’s story is significant and relative as 1965 was the first true build up in Vietnam and with his entry, the development of fortifications in the major areas around Da Nang. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leadership is expected in the military and no so small of a need than when embroiled in war. Leadership has been thought of as a born position or a grown position, and at all times, a responsible position. John Adrian Straley is just that, a leader, lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1965, recently assigned to Okinawa and a straight-line ticket to Da Nang, Vietnam. How did a man of humble origin get to where he was then and what effect did his position hold on him while he was there and when he left? As I interviewed the now Catholic Deacon, I realized so much more that leadership is a way of life and a way of thinking. Did the leadership role actually come from deep within the individual or was it taught? Can you actually make a leader or are they born? Our discussion brought forth many points to consider in defining a leader and what the Vietnam experience showed in leadership, in duty, in honor, in life.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

           When asked about where Adrian had grown up and went to school, here was his response:             \u201c\u2026The town of Immaculee, which was very much back in the sticks, and it was there that I attended eighth through the twelfth grades. I was not good in school throughout most of my childhood through eighth grade but about the ninth grade the light bulb came on\u2026For some reason everything just clicked, and I started getting A\u2019s. And I started getting ambitious and thought then I can excel, and I could go to a good college. And maybe even a very good college, although our family was very poor, we lived in a very shabby house trailer all throughout my school years and when I talked about going away to college especially maybe even to some prestige college my parents looked at each other and rolled their eyes who’s going to pay for this. But I was fortunate I applied for several schools but was accepted by the University of Chicago. And I got a full ride scholarship, tuition and a sizable stipend for room and board and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Hard work and determination, a sign of commitment was the\ninitial aspect of the future officer in the Marine Corps. At the time of his\nenrolling at the University of Chicago, the Vietnam War had been reserved to\nthe Special Forces and advisor roles. The main combat operations had not begun.\nWhat causes someone to reach dep and become a leader, or better yet, what\ncauses someone to want to serve their country, what is the motivation? A few\nresponses on questions from Adrian went like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026what caused you or motivated you to serve in the armed\nforces\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026I got some recruiting leaflets from the Marine Corps. And,\nshows this snazzy uniform you know about all the pride and accomplishment, that\ngoes with being a Marine and , anyway, there had never been any Marines in my\nfamily, but there were a lot of service, my father was in the Navy in World War\nII, several of my uncles, they weren\u2019t drafted, they signed up and went because\nthat was what you do in time of war. There was not a trace of any kind of\ncontempt of the military culture at all. It was expected of a young man of\nmilitary age that was physically able that he would serve especially in time of\nwar. I learned about a program while I was in college, the University of\nChicago did not have R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers Training Corps). But the\nMarines had a program called the Platoon Leaders class.  In which you\nwould sign up and agree to go to Quantico for two summer programs, six-week\nprograms in officer candidate school. And if you completed those successfully,\nthey were basically the equivalent of boot camp, but for officer candidates.\nAnd if you maintained at least a C average in college, then upon graduation,\nyou would be commissioned not in the regulars, but you would get a reserve\ncommission as a second lieutenant and be expected to serve three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Much of what Adrian had to do was to clear roads of mines, readdress culverts and bridge work as he describes here: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“…one assignment, work assignment I will never forget, there was a supply road out into the boondocks unpaved of course and um and old bridge had been destroyed by the Viet Cong and so there was a gap and we were supposed to put in a big culvert and build it up and tamp it compact it and make it into a usable road. Well I guess supplies were very limited, we had a bolt able cup, in other words not an entire intact culver but kind of a kit where you took these kind of semi-circular pieces and bolted them together on the flanges and you just bolted enough together you could make a complete culvert. well, we were out there and starting to bolt together and I got a call to go back to battalion headquarters there\u2019s a staff meeting, I left my platoon sergeant in charge. He wasn\u2019t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree um, he got it bolted together, and I got back that he said it\u2019s all done, but he\u2019d only put in about one bolt out of ten that needed to go in there, he was making it easy on himself. And It didn\u2019t have the necessary structural strength. And I being you know still a rookie shaved tail, didn\u2019t know, or anyway I let him get away with it, or I didn\u2019t know any better, he put it in, covered it over, smoothed it over, ran a bulldozer over it and the whole thing crushed. And the battalion commander was fit to be tied cause that was the last of the culverting material. Said well y’all will have to dig it up, bend it back into shape and bolt it together correctly. Well now it was buried in tons of mud, uh OK, Anyway, so we were up to our chins in this mud with leeches all over us and trying to pull this thing out, and the suction was such that you couldn\u2019t get it out of there, anyway we spent a couple of weeks trying to do that, and the battalion commander screaming at us from a mile away, you nincompoops, get that damn thing built, get that dug and get it out of there. So that was the most nightmarish experience that I had….”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adrian Straley explained the searching of of mines and other traps that a service member would encounter in Vietnam as in the one depicted in this picture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A captured Viet Cong flag.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Another trap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Adrian explained the materials and the type of structures they were required to build as Marine engineers as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“…They brought in some Mahogany from the Philippines. (chuckling) And it was like steel. You couldn\u2019t drive a nail through it. You start out with a sharp saw trying to saw it. By the time we finished the saw was as smooth as a butter knife. You know it was horrible. We did the best we could with it. I remember the day the first ship arrived from the U.S. with treated pine lumber, and we just practically cried when they started unloading that stuff. We actually had workable usable lumber that we could work with. And we were doing a lot of this with hand tools…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the significant aspects of the development of fortifications was the changes in material from the raw wood that the military received from the Philippines prior to the state side shipments. Adrian explained that it was hard for them in so many ways as being an Engineer in the Marines was less glamorous than the massive construction and demolition work of the Sea Bees of the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Post war was a bit different for the retired Lieutenant Colonel, as he felt that he did not face much animosity. Again, the major events had not occurred that would draw extreme anti-war movements. He stated that he had really benefited from serving his country and he took advantage of everything “Uncle Sam” had offered him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n