Employers join ESGR Boss Lift in San Diego

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- The rapid clanging of metal spoons and forks on tin trays and the occasional bark of a drill instructor were the only sounds heard in the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot dining hall during the noon meal Thursday.

New Ulm Police Chief Erv Weinkauf and Region 6 ESGR Chairman Vern Rubey of New Ulm learned that Marine recruits are not allowed to talk during chow and must be in and out of the dining hall in 20 minutes.

Marine recruits lined up in formation outside the dining hall before running in single file to eat. They didn't look at anybody else while they were in the chow hall. The logic is that since their say is so full of training, they spend as little time as possible on things other than training. Recruits sometimes get an hour of free time before sleeping to catch up on mail.

The New Ulm men learned many other things about the military during the Minnesota Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Boss Lift trip to San Diego Jan. 15-17.

Boss Lifts give employers the chance to share their insights on the challenges and benefits of having employees that serve in Reserve components. Key employees observe firsthand the type and quality of military training and leadership activities.

Weinkauf, Rubey and this writer ate dinner with 2001 Winona High School graduate William Schuth Thursday. Referring to himself as "this recruit," Schuth told us he graduated from a Twin Cities culinary arts school and worked at a downtown Minneapolis restaurant before joining the Marines.

A member of the infantry, Schuth said he hoped to transfer and retrain in public affairs and become a journalist in the Marines. He will get the chance to request a lateral transfer in a year.

"I hope to get some good experience on the front lines which should make me a better journalist," Schuth said.

He was very interested in learning about the latest sports news from Minnesota. Was the Wild still in first place? What about the latest Twins news?

Scheduled to graduate from 13 weeks of boot camp Feb. 28, he'll be advanced to E-2. Schuth will attend six weeks of infantry training at nearby Camp Pendleton, Calif. before moving to his first duty station. He thinks he'll likely be sent to war in Iraq after that.

It sounded like the Marine Corps created a life-changing experience for him, as it does for most all recruits.

"It's intense but very good," Schuth said of his training. "I'm learning many things you can't get in the classroom. I've learned to work as part of a team."

Devotions, eating and mail call are among his most cherished parts of the day. The thing he misses most is being able to sit down and read a newspaper.

Marine Colonel David Sheldon of MCRD San Diego said Marine training promises recruits nothing more than a rifle, pack and a place to sleep. In return they get a purpose, a mission, a sense of worth and an emblem of a globe, eagle and anchor when they complete boot camp.

The Boss Lift began Wednesday morning when 50 Minnesota attorneys, mayors, police and fire chiefs, a union leader, former Minneapolis Aquatennial queen that is now a KSTP television reporter and ESGR volunteers got a briefing of the trip at the Non-Commissioned Officers Club at the U.S. Air Force Reserve base in Minneapolis.

Minnesota ESGR Chairman and retired USAF Brigadier General Dennis Schulstad called the trip a spectacular adventure that very few other people would ever experience.

"Very few people in the world will ever see a B-2 bomber much less see one being refueled," Schulstad said.

The group left the Twin Cities aboard a KC 135 Stratotanker (similar to a Boeing 707) that refueled a B-2 Spirit bomber at 35,000 feet over Fort Dodge, Iowa en route to North Island Naval Air Station on Coronado Island near San Diego.

He said today's military is smaller but better educated. trained and just as patriotic as it ever was.

Active duty and reserve men and women are making immense sacrifices for the defense of our nation and the world, Schulstad said. The ESGR helps employers know how important the Guard and Reserves are toward that end.

Soon after the KC 135 leveled off over Iowa, it connected with a B-2 bomber and topped off high-tech bomber's fuel tank. Stratotanker passengers laid down flat and photographed and videotaped the event through small windows under the plane's tail.

The B-2's speed range is high subsonic. It can deliver a variety of nuclear and conventional weapons, including gravity bombs and maritime weapons. Made of composite materials, the state-of-the-art bombers can strike eight times as many targets as the stealthy F-117 strike fighter with low-observable characteristics.

The trip reminded Weinkauf of his U.S. Army service decades ago. A paratrooper, he jumped with the airborne military police. Weinkauf got his parachute training in Germany.

Completing 30 jumps in 14 months, he recalled his final jump when he was the first paratrooper out of an airplane just 800 feet above the ground over Badkreuznach, Germany at night.

"What a rush," Weinkauf said of his jumps. The last one was among the most exciting. "

We couldn't see just what was below us. It looked very black. We were afraid it might be a parking lot, but it turned out to be a plowed field," Weinkauf said.

Rubey recalled his favorite memories of 42 years of service with the National Guard. During the Korean War in 1951, he and other New Ulmites were recalled to active duty and sent to Fort Rucker, Ala., for infantry training.

Although he never went to boot camp, Rubey soon became a drill instructor. He got most of his training by reading manuals and talking to other soldiers.

"Back then, there was no family support services or many other things like they have today," Rubey said. "We had to improvise."

Minnesotans also visited two Navy ships, the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and the destroyer USS Elliot. On the final day they toured the U.S. Coast Guard station.