Do
I remember Lt. Conlee? Sure I do - anyone who ever met him would
remember Lt. Conlee...
With a last name like Tingle, I was fair game for
harassing, and Lt. Conlee seized on that when we were out in the woods
learning field expedient recovery of 2 1/2 tons that were stuck in the mud
facing downhill.
Remember that exercise?
So, Lt. Conlee saw my nametag and asked me if I knew
what a limerick was, and I answered correctly, "Sir, Candidate Tingle, "Yes
sir, I know what a limerick is."
So the good Lt. told me that by meal time that night I
was to have prepared a limerick using my last name, and present it to the
class in the mess hall.
I avoided eye contact with Lt Conlee in the mess hall,
but he remembered and yelled for me to present my limerick.
I had learned from other candidates how to call the
mess hall to "At Ease," first requesting the TACs' permission to speak, then
the Senior Candidates, then Class 09.
After the noise abated, I recited my limerick thusly:
There once was a candidate named Tingle,
Whose choice was OCS Signal;
He traveled so far to get his gold bar,
That now his wife thinks she's single.
The good TAC left me alone after that. RIP Lt.
Conlee...
Submitted by Colonel
Earl Tingle (09-67)
Lieutenant
Conlee died in 1970