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Chapter 30
The ‘End of the ‘old’ E Company
In the period between Jan. and Feb. 1966 Kozak, Boryszewski and myself were again ‘mixmastered' from A Co. to various ‘staff ‘ positions in 1/4. Capt. Tolleson was already gone before moving to Chu Lai in early Nov. —he was transferred to various staff positions and would eventually return to Viet Nam as an ARVN Advisor. Lt. Kozak transferred to the Battalion staff of 1/4 as the ‘Adjutant’ ; Lt. Boryszewski was transferred to Battalion HQ as Asst. S-1 and I was moved to the 1/4 Battalion Commander’s staff as the S-2. We were the last officers of the original E Company that had formed up at Camp Pendleton in 1964. The platoon sergeants from the old E Co. were transferred to other companies throughout 1/4. All of the training —all of the combat experience—all of the comraderie—all of the unit cohesion— was now scattered to the four winds—our E Company brotherhood was split up and sent to new outfits.
I can’t speak for Lt. Kozak , Lt. Lloyd or Lt. Boryszewski but I know that I felt a sense of loss when we were split from 2/7 and then again when we were transferred from our A Co., 1/4 platoon commands to staff jobs. I felt like we had been ‘benched’ after a successful season on the ‘varsity’. This was no reflection on the officers and men of 1/4—we had simply been a part of 2/7 since Aug. of 1964 through a year of training and six months of combat—together! We would
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