Ralph Puckett enlisted in the Army Air Corps Enlisted Reserve at age 17. At age 18, he was discharged to go to West Point, intending to be a pilot. Before his junior year at the Academy, he visited the 82nd Airborne and participated in ten days of training. He also saw John Huston’s directorial debut, an Army movie about the Battle of the Liri Valley in Italy. He changed his branch request to infantry. After graduating West Point and receiving his commission, Second Lieutenant John Puckett went to Ground General School at Fort Riley, then six months of the Basic Course at Fort Benning, and then Jump School. He was sent to Korea in 1950, and volunteered for the first Ranger unit established after World War Two. As a second lieutenant he was chosen to form, train, and command that unit. To him that signified the poor state of readiness of the Eighth Army in Japan. After five months of combat in Korea, Puckett was wounded and evacuated to the Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning where he spent 11 months recovering. He spent two years with the 10th Special Forces, had several other assignments, and then attended the War College. After graduating, Lieutenant Colonel Puckett volunteered for Vietnam. He was assigned to command the 2nd Battalion of the 502nd Infantry Regiment. He arrived in Vietnam in 1967. It reminded him of his jungle experience in Columbia, South America, where he helped establish the Escuela de Lanceros. The brigade's mission was search and destroy. They would patrol the jungle, killing any bad guys they could find (or capturing them if possible). Lieutenant Colonel Puckett was a great leader. He knew when to take command and when to let the experts do their job. He was injured several times, but regards himself as lucky. He tells a story of spending the night with Company B on a hot landing zone.

Key Names: Major General Sidney Berry, Captain Ronald G. Odom, Second Lieutenant Thomas Petramalo