RAFINO Report
ISSUE 20 - Spring 1998 - Return to Index

"Resourcefulness" --- A Story
By Presently "Unknown Author"

(Ed: The only reason the author is listed as "unknown" is that I lost the cover letter for the story and await his justifiably angry claim for recognition.)

"I also have a story to tell about a bad check.  It happened while I was Deputy FO for the 101st situated at Phu Bai, VN.  We too had a policy of cashing personal checks, but only for division personnel.  We had a returned check for $500 cashed for a trooper going on R&R.  When finance records were researched it was discovered that the SP5 who had written and cashed it was not a member of the 101st but one of the many I Corps support units in the area.  We now had a problem in that we didn't have immediate access to his finance records and the young man had gone AWOL and was somewhere in the States.  We had a tentative address of a street in Pittsburgh.  Shortly after-wards I was home on R&R - also in the Pittsburgh area.  I decided to take a ride with the family to Pittsburgh.  You can imagine my disappointment when the address turned out to be an asphalt parking lot!  A search of the telephone book revealed the same last name at the same street address in a small town near Pittsburgh.  I drove there and sure enough there was a house at that address.  So, I paid a visit to the town Chief of Police (shared an office with the Fire chief over a two car garage that held their combined fleet.)  He knew the family well-upstanding citizens for 70 plus years, same name as the young man, but couldn't be that family as they had no children.  Disappointed, I left my phone number with the Chief, who didn't seem too interested, asking that he keep an eye out for the young man.  When I arrived home a few hours later there was a phone call waiting from the Chief.  He had our man - turned out to be a nephew.  "What do you want me to do with him?"  "Does he have any money?"  "No."  "Well, call Fort Meade and turn him in."  He did.

While we had him we were still out $500+.  I called the SJA at Ft. Meade to inquire what they would do to him.  "We'll court-martial him ASAP and he'll be out of the Service."  I asked if they could do a favor for a Finance Officer in a jam by holding him for 30 to 40 days before the court martial so that he would earn enough to pay back the shortage.  He agreed.  They did and we put through a collection action and recouped our loss much to the relief of our D.O. and the cashier - as well as one concerned Deputy F.O.!"