“Forrest!” barked the officer on the phone at battalion headquarters, “When is your radar going to be up?” Dave FORREST ‘63 was in charge of his Hawk missile battery that night, protecting a sector of the German Czech border near Grafenwohr. His radar was down, and his warrant officer was frantically trying to fix it. “Soon...,” Forest yelled back. “This is one heck of a responsibility for a 22-year-old lieutenant,” he muttered to himself. But this was the Cold War in action.
Dave Forrest ‘63 was originally a member of the class of ‘62 but took a year off and ended up graduating with the class of ‘63. His claim to fame when enrolled in ROTC was that he was the adjutant to Bill Crouch ‘63, the Commander of the Corps of Cadets. Crouch went on to become a four-star general and served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army under President Carter.
Dave was a Distinguished Military Graduate (DMG) which theoretically granted him his first choice of Army branches. For Dave that meant Intelligence Corps, but when the assignments came down, he was assigned to the Artillery. When the Army was questioned as to why he received his second choice of branch, the Army response was: “Lt. Forrest received his second branch choice.” This was one of the first lessons a young, 22-year-old Dave Forrest learned during his two years of active duty.
As a brand-new second lieutenant Dave found himself at Ft. Bliss, Texas training as an Aerial Rocket Artillery Commander and learning how to manage a Hawk Missile Battery, the first air defense missile system deployed by the Army. Training was followed by a two-year tour outside Grafenwöhr, Germany, trying to keep one of the first computer directed missile systems up and running. “Our computer kept breaking down,” commented Dave, “and we had only one Warrant Officer in the unit who knew how to keep it running.” Dave found himself under tremendous pressure to keep his sector of the Cold War border secure. “If the computer went down,” added Dave, “the top brass would be on the radio to me in an instant.”
One day, after enjoying the good life as a bachelor in Germany, Dave received a memorandum stating that all Lieutenants with more than one year of service remaining would be transferred to Vietnam. Dave defines this as one of the luckiest moments in his life, having just squeaked through with slightly less than 18 months left to serve.
Another lucky/unlucky experience during his tour found Dave reporting to a Captain who had excellent management skills. Unfortunately, this leader was followed by another Captain who was terrible: vain, arrogant, ignorant, and just plain nasty. Dave profited from both leaders observing both positive and negative management and mentoring styles.
Forrest was also amazed at how the Army had given him so much responsibility as a young 22-year-old second lieutenant and his responsibilities required that he grow up very fast. He became aware of the military hierarchy which held him in good stead in his civilian career as an organizational psychologist and management consultant. He learned and was impressed by the Army’s motto of the time, First the Mission then the Man, and gained confidence and street-smarts from the jobs he was responsible to perform.
At the conclusion of his two-year active-duty stint, Dave was able to leave the Army while still in Germany and spent six months traveling around the country as a tourist, visiting various countries, enjoying the food, scenery, going on dates, and buying gas at $.11 per gallon. He learned passable German after taking a correspondence course with lessons exchanged by snail mail!
After returning to the US, Dave followed up his military experience earning both Masters and PhD degrees in Psychology from Columbia University. He credits the experience and confidence he gained in the military with helping him land his first job as an organizational psychology consultant. He noticed a sign outside a consultant’s office, cold called the owner, and started a conversation. The man was obviously impressed because a short time later Dave was hired.
He spent 20 years in the profession first helping business owners navigate management and organizational problems and then transitioned into individual practice counseling with military families on thirteen bases around the country dealing with a wide variety of issues from grief counseling to family dynamics. Dave has had some tough assignments when working in a prison system in Seattle, helping men serving life sentences learn to cope with their situations. He maintains a part-time private practice as a psychologist in Washington state.
Starting at Claremont, Dave has maintained a close relationship with the military. He has a son who is a Colonel in the Airforce and a grandson who is the Crew Chief on a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, the largest military transport aircraft and workhorse of the military.
Asking Dave to summarize the life lessons he learned from his military and civilian careers; he offered the following advice:
- Be open to opportunities that present themselves. Be prepared to make decisions quickly. Trust in your self-confidence and believe in yourself.
- Develop a sense of adventure and take advantage of lucky opportunities and serendipity that come your way.
- Look for opportunities to serve and help the less fortunate. Enjoy the thrill and challenge of helping others even when the door is slammed in your face.
- While it was only two years, Dave feels that his military service stands out in his mind as formative - helping him achieve a successful and rewarding civilian career.
- He is especially proud of his service to the underserved and less fortunate, helping them to overcome everyday problems and crises.