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Korea, half in South Korea — literally a line down the middle of a table where we’d have diplomatic meetings. You couldn’t cross that line. And the North Korean guards would always try to intimidate you or harass you, but you couldn’t react or they’d file some kind of complaint with the UN. So, we were taking the players around base, showing them the artillery and all that, and we got to the blue buildings. May was very calm and just taking it all in, but Suhey gets in there and is going crazy with the North Korean guards, yelling “You commie @#$% come and get it,” cursing, giving them the finger. A soldier would get in all kinds of trouble for that, and the MPs were having a fit, but we couldn’t do anything about a civilian. When we got back, May said, “Yeah, when Suhey was going crazy, I went over to the North side and slapped a Redskins sticker under their side of the table!” During the Gulf War, I missed being deployed after spending so much of my career with troops, but I was working a field artillery intelligence position, part of a group providing technical assistance on Iraqi artillery and weapon systems, acquiring and prioritizing targets, that kind of thing. A few years later, I was commanding the transportation division for the Clinton inauguration (all of the drivers and vehicles were military). My wife, Carolyn, was on an annual ski trip we would take with some friends, and someone watching TV said, “Hey, your husband’s shaking hands with the president,” which was pretty cool. Chuck, I know you retired from the Army in 1997, and then you went into government service and just retired from that career recently — that’s 50 years of serving your country. Look, if you cut me, I bleed red, white, and blue. We’re a country that provides so many benefits to our citizens and to people all over the world. This country is your home, your mother. You owe it something, whether that is service in the military or volunteering in the Peace Corps; do something. You will get back so much in terms of skills, education, and opportunity. And this is in spite of the problems we have. What we’re going through today is serious, but it’s not new. It’s like that old Charlie Daniels’ song: We may fight among ourselves, but outside people better leave us alone. There are Americans who gave the full measure of everything they had to give for their country. And that continues today. As a veteran, I’d say we can’t forget our military, first responders, health care workers, police, firefighters, people volunteering to fight wildfires, people on the front lines — the ones who step up and make a difference, where their job puts their lives at risk, and they know that. There are not enough accolades to do them justice. - Chuck Turpin Army Veteran
Working with our German partnership artillery.
Tell us about some of your challenging assignments. I made it through OCS and was commissioned as an officer and sent to Germany. I was trying to get my college degree and eventually took command of the Battalion Headquarters Battery as a field artillery lieutenant. I had command of 340 soldiers, went to school part time, and was tired all the time. But the HQ was in the old Nuremburg SS barracks. There was a field in front of the huge marble structure where Hitler gave so many of his speeches — and that’s where we played football. Korea was a critical assignment and probably the highlight of my career. It was tense. We had tactical nuclear weapons and a critical mission we were responsible for, including covering the evacuation of South Koreans if the North attacked. It’s a one-year assignment, but every time my year was up, the commander said, “Turpin, I got your extension papers on my desk. Come on over and sign 'em.” I was there three years. One funny thing — we had just finished a joint exercise when a USO show pulled up and had some NFL players on it, Mark May from the Redskins and Matt Suhey from the Bears. In Korea, there are buildings called blue buildings that are half in North
At the DMZ. North Korea behind me. I spent three years in Korea. The first year was on the Combined Field Army (ROK/ US) staff. Inset photo above: 1-Star U.S. Army Chief of Staff.
2 • DONAHOEKEARNEY.COM
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