Hist - Rem Bottoms-1

FYI... Since I recently discovered that I was still alive, I wanted to get something off my chest. The year I served as PD of radio was truly a humbling experience for me. Can you imagine supervising you includes Pat Sajak, Steve Reichl, Bob Casey, Mike Sherman, Scott Manning, John Reyrauer [spelling?], Dave Esch, Rick Bednaur, Larry Green and Ray Profeta? Fortunately for me, Clem Shamus was my boss. Clem was a past master at what seemed like laissez faire management but indeed it was not. He could order you to do something and make you think it was your idea in the first place as well as make you wonder why it had taken him so long to come around to your way of thinking! The talent we had there all at one time was frequently daunting. Every swinging "d" was a civilian in uniform . Only Clem, Commander Wentz and I were lifers. Fortunately for me, friendship won out over frustration, they never tried to lynch me and we ran pretty damned good network.

Speaking of the OIC, I really decided to become a teacher because of Gene Wentz who spent hours on end teaching. But damn, he was a tough cookie. Quick story: I'll never forget once he called me in and told me to do something with programming I truly didn't want to do. I decided to test him to see how far I could push...It wasn't long before I discovered the limits of his flexibility and I said, "OK. We'll do that. I just wanted to see how far I could push." And he looked at me a little surprised then said, "Do you know NOW, Sergeant?" And I said yes and got the hell out of there before he could fire me which I think, he had every intention of doing! That "Do you know NOW, Sergeant?" question remains, to this day, the only full metal jacket phrase I have ever heard. Still gives me chills.

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Paul Bottoms, SP4, USA (1968-1970) - 1