CPT (R) James McCormick

CPT (R) James McCormick sat down with me for Heroes Live.

Officer basic. I was a platoon sergeant. He was a student. Same age as me. Same age as Tom Lee. End of a road march. Packs. Helmets. Buses. He did not even put his ruck down. Stepped into the doorway and dressed that class down. I hope you get a platoon just as sorry as you are. Captain Lee and I walked off and let him work.

They had been in the field. Hot. Tired. He had ten or eleven years on those kids. They were not taking it serious. He knew they were leaving to go to war. He ran into a lot of them later in Iraq. Convoy security. Some killed. Some wounded. A lot of them mentally wounded. He would rather they hear it from him than feel the sting of a bullet.

He had been an armor officer. Took a tank platoon to NTC. Guard platoon sergeant before that. Great civilian job. Tyson Foods. About 80,000 a year. Working in New York. After 9/11 he could see it from there. He needed to be humbled. He wanted more influence over his soldiers. A second lieutenant could always walk in and say scratch that.

He joined at seventeen. Wanted to be Sergeant Rock. Basic in 1986 at Fort Knox. 19 Delta. Cavalry scout. Drill sergeants in his face. They had to bend down to get there. By the time he got to our course he already had a fruit salad. He had already been shot. He came anyway.

Rocky Bleier. John Banaszak. He spent a weekend in Vegas with them. Real heroes. Bleier went to Vietnam with a Notre Dame degree and came out an E4. In West Virginia if it is special it goes in the china cabinet. He told them about a lady up the street. They sent the picture.

Gold star tree planting. His mom. Woody Williams. He speaks for veterans. I subscribe to his digging history channel. Metal detecting. He is heading to Alabama for arrowheads and buttons. He told everybody not to be ashamed to say I love you. Not enough of that right now.

He was never just a student. He was a friend. Old guys in a young course. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.