Overby Recalls Draft and Military Service In “Just Ordinary Soldiers: Recollections of a Cold War Vet”
Administrative Law Judge Melissa Lassiter, in a recent NCBarBlog post, brings to light Judge Don Overby’s story, which is masterfully told in his book, “Just Ordinary Soldiers: Recollections of a Cold War Vet.”
The post itself, accessible here on the Administrative Law Section blog, is also well worth your time. Published in June, Lassiter’s article provides excellent background information on her colleague, who retired from the Office of Administrative Hearings last year, and Overby’s book, which was published in 2016.
“Just Ordinary Soldiers” will resonate with just about anyone who grew up in the 1960s, during which time U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia escalated into full-scale participation in the Vietnam War. The book hits especially close to home for anyone who was drafted during this era, even if they never served in Vietnam.
“I think just about everybody who was drafted had the expectation that they were going to go to Vietnam,” said Overby. “I fully did. It was even more of a point when I was sent to Fort Ord, California, for my advanced infantry training. Why send me all the way back to North Carolina when all they’ve got to do is stick me on a steamer heading across the Pacific?
“As it turned out, nobody in my training company went to Vietnam. We were extremely lucky, or maybe it was divine intervention. I think the attitude of everybody who got drafted was that they were going to Vietnam, so going to Germany was either divine intervention or a real huge stroke of luck.”
When he was drafted in January of 1968, shortly before the outbreak of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, Overby was far less concerned about the decades old Cold War. It wasn’t until after his tour ended and he returned to college that Overby grasped the significance of the situation in Europe.
“I didn’t understand the politics of the universe in those days,” Overby admits, “but what I did learn when I came back to East Carolina is that the NATO forces were there as a ‘trip wire.’ So if the Russians decided they were going to come through Poland to Czechoslovakia, there would surely be mass casualties in Germany, and the Third Armored Division would be one of those taking a huge hit. The possibility was there.”
Don Overby as he appeared during his “ordinary soldier” days.
After five months of basic training and advanced individual training, Overby arrived in Germany in June. Then, in August of 1968, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia.
“I hadn’t been in Germany but just matter of a few months when Czechoslovakia was invaded by Russia,” Overby recalled. “We went out and set up on the Czech border, or as close to it as we could feel safe, and sat there for a few days. I remember vividly coming back and going to the mess hall and walking around looking at hundreds of guys and sitting there thinking that all they had to do was pull the lever one way on a tank and it would have been heading right straight toward us. I remember thinking probably half those guys in the mess hall would have been dead or at least seriously wounded. I also thought, ‘well, it wouldn’t be me, because I’m invincible and invisible.’
“That one event – because we spent most of the time sleeping in the woods practicing – but when you can look across fields into these small towns and see Russian tanks, that was pretty real. But it was not Vietnam – they were not shooting at us.”
Overby had long toyed with the notion of writing a book, but not this book.
“I did one year of post-graduate work at East Carolina in history, and all along I had this crazy idea that one day I was going to write a book. In those days it was more intellectual and involved all kinds of research. Then, as decades went by, that went by the wayside. I had thought about writing about my time in the army, but never really spent a lot of time dwelling on what it would look like.
“Then in 2010 I put together a reunion of the guys who were in my mortar platoon. There were 12 of us. When we got together . . . it hit me: I need to tell these guys’ stories. That is when I started developing the idea and putting it together. It took me a while, but I finally got the book out.
“It was a tale about these guys and how we were just ordinary guys and where we came from, and how we were just ordinary guys who became just ordinary soldiers. One point that I wanted to convey in the book is that the draftees were just as good as soldiers as the enlistees. Draftees were often described in unfavorable terms, that they were not good soldiers. My experience was different – these guys were as good as any.”
Don Overby, author and judge, who retired last year from the Office of Administrative Hearings.
The ordinary guys, or “cast of characters” as Overby refers to them in the book, were members of the Third Armored Division’s 3rd Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment. They hailed from all over the eastern half of the United States. No one famous, no one you’ve ever heard about, with the possible exception of Bill “Killer” Kilcullen from Schenectady, New York, who is a member of the Northeast U.S. Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
Overby had no intentions of being famous, thanks in part to some sage advice from his older brother Jimmy, who was stationed at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg at the same time Overby was undergoing basic training there.
“Jimmy told me, ‘Don’t join anything, even the church, not until you’re satisfied you want to stay in the army.’ That was great advice. He also told me, ‘If they ask for somebody who has a driver’s license, they want you to use the wheelbarrow.’ He told me to just do what you’re told and keep your mouth shut. That was difficult for me – the keeping the mouth shut – but I did determine that I didn’t want to get into trouble, so if I kept doing what I was told and doing the best I could, I would probably get along alright.
“At some point I did set my sights on becoming a sergeant before I got out, and I was able to do that. I made the rank of sergeant in 18 months, which was pretty quick. Nowadays I think guys who are in four years might attain that rank, but I got promoted and it felt good. I always thought if I could just make Sergeant E5, I’d be the king of the hill. But that just meant there were more people with more rank than me telling me what to do that I had to pass on. But it was an achievement.”
Perhaps Overby’s greatest achievement as a soldier was the fact that he grew up.
“Oh yes, I sure did,” Overby said. “I was determined I wanted to be the best student I could when I came back. I think I learned more about discipline and leading a disciplined life, knowing what the ultimate goal was and then working diligently to achieve it.
“Whereas before, a lot of things came sort of easy, so I really didn’t have to apply myself in some ways. Being in the army and having that structure, and again leading that disciplined life, I think has served me well – although there are still some serious lapses!”
PFC Overby pictured at his permanent duty station outside of Kirch-Goens, Germany, officially known at Ayers Kaserne but also known as “The Rock.”
Overby received his bachelor’s degree in history from East Carolina University in 1972, followed by a year of post-graduate study. Law school had always been a dream, but it would have to wait.
“That was a long-range plan I had all through high school – I either wanted to be Perry Mason or play shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Overby said. “The baseball career didn’t quite work out, so I did that year of post-graduate work while my wife was finishing up her master’s degree, then we moved back to Raleigh. I picked up a job working at the same printing company I worked at in high school and waited to see what would develop.
“I had applied for some jobs with the State to work in some area that was history-related. At that point I hadn’t gotten anything, and then they started talking about putting the law school at Campbell. And I thought, ‘This is what I would like to do.’”
Campbell Law School, presently celebrating its 45th anniversary, was still in its infancy when Overby decided to give it a look. “It was a leap of faith,” he added, “probably more for them than me.” Overby was a member of the second graduating class in 1977.
“One of my professors at East Carolina, a fellow named John East who ultimately became a U.S. Senator, was one of the smartest men I ever met in my life,” Overby said. “I just thought the world of him, and he was always very encouraging to me. I felt like I had dug a hole for myself because even with the really good grades I made after I came back, the really bad grades I had before I went in the army, my overall grade point average was not something that would be looked on as acceptable material to go to law school.
“Dr. East told me I should consider some schools that looked at people for the ones they thought would be good lawyers and not just the ones who had great numbers. It turned out that was what Campbell’s attitude was in those days, so they took a chance on this long-haired guy riding a motorcycle.”
It was a chance that paid off well for both parties. In addition to several years in private practice, Overby served as a District Court judge from 1988-96, and as a mediator and emergency judge from 2000-06. He joined the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings in 2006 and served 14 years as an administrative law judge.
A longtime Raleigh resident, Overby and his wife, Linda, now reside in Johnston County, equidistant between their three daughters and five grandchildren.
“Just Ordinary Soldiers: Recollections of a Cold War Vet” was a finalist for book of the year with Foreword Review for independently published books. Published by Chapel Hill Press, it is available at justordinarysoldiers.com.
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.