This series of photos are not to make an artistic statement, but are really a documentary comment on my life as I knew it in the early 1970's. This was life at college, (SLU, Hammond, La-1970 to 1974) and a photo of my father taken when we still lived in New Orleans on Downman Road.

The first photo was of Percy, the fellow that was the Janitor at Lee Hall. He did not have any teeth and spoke with a south Louisiana cajun accent. Made for interesting listening. He could not say my name: Malloy, so he use to call me "Malo". That nickname stuck. Even to this day when I run into some of my college chums they still call me Malo. Who knew?

Oh yes, that was Sherry Catha, from Baton Rouge. She was my girl friend at the time. She is holding Patrick when he was a baby. Sherry was a good person and made someone a good wife. I think she wanted to marry me, but at that time I was not in a marrying mood. hi. BTW. Still not!! I think some of us were not ment to get married?? Just a thought.

Well, what can I say about the next photo. My Army ROTC buddies in the cafeteria. When asked their IQ, they all responded with their middle finger. Gives you some indication of the Intelligence quotient of the group. Same for me. I was the "goat" of the class BTW, and proud of it. I graduated and became a second Lt., and that is all that matters.

The next two photos at SLU cafeteria. A group of friends, but then there is Terrell Ford on the right. He was an accounting major. Actually had a head on his shoulders, and a fellow ROTC alum. I am sorry to say he just recently died. Great guy. He is missed.

The next photo was at our ROTC ball. Sorry I can't remember their names. But the young lady has a very beautiful face. Why did I not see that back then??

The fellow smoking the pipe is Barry Landry, from La Place, La. He was our suite mate, 220 Lee Hall. He is a lawyer now, but back in the day he used to make animal calls at 6 in the morning while in the bathroom. It would wake Bruce Miller up and he would start screaming for Barry to shut up. One time Bruce got so mad that he threw a broom like a javlin at Barry and missed but he hit a toilet and knocked a big hole in the commode. So when Percy came by to clean that day he did not see the hole and when he flushed the toilet after cleaning, the water shot out all over Percy's pants. The dean was called in. I have already said too much.

Ok. This is for all you guys that think I am the button down type. Well maybe, and yes I was a straight arrow in ROTC, but.... I had friends who were not. Here is the proof. My ROTC group was protested one time when General Westmorland came to visit. Was not violent, but none the less a protest.

Below the protest photos are friends of mine from a different time I suppose? ROTC was a big part of my life. We learned to rappel off a tower, march, do field maneuvers, PT, marksmanship and oh yes how could I forget. Shine our boots after lights were out, Brasso our brass and check our gig line.

Also, people think that ROTC training is about marching, playing softball and having bar-b-ques. Sorry, but it was hard core training. It was all Infantry training. This was not the Navy. We don't spend time tying knots. We were being trained for a dirty war in Vietnam. Thank Goodness, none of my classmates went. It ended before we could get there, but make no mistake we all knew where we were headed. To be blunt, the training was about military procedures and protocol of course, but we were there to lead Americans in combat at some future point and we could never forget it.

You know, we may not have liked it at the time but now as a 70 something, I see this training and the discipline stayed with me through out my entire life. I also see those who were never in the military. Most in my opinion are undisciplined. That is not always true, but there are a lot of self centered people out there now. They never learned how to sacrifice for the group effort. It is not always about YOU, but WE. I know for a fact that if they had been in the military their attitude towards life would have been much different.

Enough of my personal opinions. The photo of the fellow in the helmet and parachute harness, is Michael "Killer" Rodner. There was a parachute club near SLU, so Mike and I went over and took the lessons then made a parachute jump. Funny thing. All my ROTC buddies used to call me "One Jump Malloy". My retort was, well why don't you pay for the next jump and I will do it, and at the same time why don't you come over and make your own parachute jump. That would shut them down really quick. Later on I went to the Army Airborne School at Ft. Benning and also the Air Assault School at Ft. Campbell, Ky. Wanted to go to the Pathfinder School but could not get the orders to go. The Army is not like a college. You can't just sign up and go.

Bottom photo Left. Field maneuvers, at Ft. Riley, Ks. This is how I spent my summers. Was getting paid half the pay of a second Lt., plus I was getting paid while in school. I never had to work at Burger King. Of cours right after that photo was taken we came under a machine gun attack (using blanks) and we had to scatter and hit the dirt at the same time. If you click on the photo and make it larger you can see it had just rained. When we all got up we were filthy dirty. Still had to stand an inspection the next morning at 0500 hrs. So you know what we were doing late in the night? Cleaning, polishing, washing, and scrubbing. Every thing had to be spotless. I think it is easier to work at Burger King.

That last photo is of me as a ROTC cadet. How could I be so young and thin, all at the same time????

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FACES 2

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