CW4 Dan Franklin

CW4 Dan Franklin sat down with me for Heroes I Know.

Taco. That is what they call him. He loves Taco Bell. Bragg. Yadkin Road. Lunch and dinner. A supply sergeant in HHB said one day he would turn into a taco. AKO in 2001. Official Army email. taco.franklin. Held until about 2010.

He came in in 98. Seventeen. Fort Sill. Alpha 1-22. Fourth of July weekend. Half a platoon. They got smoked. Then the rest showed up and they did zero week all over again.

AIT. Class 5-22-98. Night shift. 1800 to 0600. Then PT. Then bed. LIZ radar. Then Sentinel. 14 Juliet. Most of the class went to Hood and Germany. He went to Bragg.

Charlie Battery. 1999. Loose was his platoon sergeant. I had him for a stretch. HHB in 01. First day at Bragg was DRF 1. Bags still in his hands. A staff sergeant sent him to the first sergeant for a PRC-77 battery. First Sergeant Stout was gone. Sergeant First Class Robinson was behind the desk. Dagger eyes. Push-ups. He was the laughingstock. He still tells it.

He ran into his old drill sergeant at Bragg. Purple Mitsubishi Eclipse. Passenger seat of Captain Boyer's command truck. The window came down. Were you one of my privates. Good to see you again Airborne.

He does not stop learning. Even as a warrant. Kevin McGovern helped him into a new job in 2020. He ran into Sergeant Loots in the field after twenty years. Air defense is small.

He could not make the 3-4 reunion. Daughter's birthday. Huntsville now. We raised a glass. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.