Fair, Robert Leahy, LTG

"Lam Nut Bau troi, Rung chuyen Trai Dat" (Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth)
~ Signal to communist forces telling them to commence the greatest battle in the history of Vietnam. The Tet '68 offensive was countrywide and well coordinated, with more than 80,000 communist troops striking more than 100 towns and cities. The main offensive was preceded by attacks on the border towns of Tay Ninh, An Loc, and Loc Ninh, which were initiated in order to draw defensive forces from the cities. Col Fair was the commander at Tay Ninh. The enemy was quickly beaten back there.

General Fair was one of the toughest officers I ever ran into. He and I crossed paths three times in our careers. The first time we were assigned together in the 25th Infantry Division - Vietnam.  ...but it was the last time when I had the most interaction with him.

I was assigned to the ACofS Inspector's General Office, when he came on board as the V Corps Commmander. If General Fair believed an officer or enlisted man did not know what they were doing, he had zero tolerance for them. I once saw him dress down and dismiss a Major who was presenting him with a  briefing, a briefing that he believed to be grossly incorrect. Another time he stopped a soldier and engaged him for the lack of a proper haircut. He was quick to make his position on such things known.

Personally, I liked General Fair. He began to make things happen that I had been trying to do for some time. The best of these initatives - he consolidated redundant reports. In one case he consolidated four different ammunition reports. He felt as I did that these extra reports only took away valuable time needed for other purposes at the lower command levels. We both believed the extra reports were being required to help justify positions at the Corps level.

He despertly needed funds to train soldiers with. When they were not forth coming, he began to transfer funds designated for other purposes to fund his training needs. Instructed to stop these funds transfers by the USAREUR Commander, LTG Fair ignored that instruction and continued to march with his plans. After having given him a period of time to cease and correct these money transfers, Gen Blanchard, USAREUR Commander finally relieved him from his command.

Granted the two Generals were not the best of friends because of this and other issues, personal feelings were not really the cause of his relief. Gen Blanchard, would have had a lot of explaining to do to Congress, if he had allowed these transfers of funds to continue. Reallocation of funds in this manner were in the top ten Special Subjects of Interest (SSI) in IG Inspections & investigations. This particular violation, if discovered, was required to be reported by FLASH message traffic directly to Congress.

I salute both of these professional military giants. I consider both to be among my mentors. Gen Blanchard stepped up to bat for me in another matter - but that is another story.  ~ D. Patrick

"Fair's approach won plaudits. Novelist Josiah Bunting (The Lionheads), an ex-major himself, praised Fair's leathery style in a Playboy article last fall, describing the general as "an admirable soldier" who is "always in bristling motion." But other officers, whose palms sweat when Fair raked them over with abrasive questions, disliked him intensely. To some enlisted men, Fair was a ... General Patton."