We have been following Marland Burckhardt, a Russell High School graduate who married his Russell sweetheart in college and began an Army career focused on Military Intelligence and Special Forces operations. He deployed to Vietnam in January 1970 and then he and Barb had assignments at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas before returning to Fort Bragg.

Marland was promoted to lieutenant colonel at Fort Bragg and selected for battalion command at Fort Hood, Texas.

“I commanded the 312th Military Intelligence Battalion in the 1st Cavalry Division. It was a sister battalion to the one I had been in with the 82nd. The battalion had the same mission, but with an armored division with tanks and APCs (Armored Personnel Carriers) so, the same mission, but different equipment and tactics. We (organized) slices that supported each of the brigades, so the brigade commander and battalion commanders knew who ‘d support them come time to deploy.”

Marland reflected on key events of his time in battalion command.

“There were two high points. I took command in the summer of ’83 and that fall we went on REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany). We took the whole 1st Cav division over and pulled the equipment from the POMCUS sites. (Pre-positioning of Materiel Configured in Unit Sets) We went over there; fell in on that equipment, did our REFORGER exercise, and then turned that equipment back in. I was there about two months, from deployment to coming back.”

He gave credit to his Battalion Command sergeant major (A battalion’s senior non-commissioned officer and enlisted leader) for ensuring the return of their POMCUS equipment went smoothly.

“The sergeant major was an absolute dream! (Marland chuckled) He went on REFORGER with us and had been a sergeant major in one of the POMCUS sites. That made it easy for us to draw and turn-in our equipment. When it came time for equipment turn-in, which can be a headache to clean up to meet their standards, SGM Gonzalez said, ‘Sir, the NCOs will take care of this.’ I readily accepted his offer and it was smooth as silk!”

His second high point involved another, long-distance training exercise.

“We had to do a battalion ARTEP — (Army Training and Evaluation Program). My XO talked the ADC (Assistant Division Commander) into letting us go to Fort Huachuca for ours. So, we road-marched the battalion. It took us three days to get there, convoying from Texas to Fort Huachuca, to include APCs we put on trains. We took the entire battalion and ran a training exercise on Huachuca. That was quite an experience! There were a lot of vehicles rolling down interstate highways. It was a success with only the normal glitches you learn from.”

Marland was not pleased to learn of his follow-on assignment as commander of a Recruiting Battalion. He turned down the command, but the assignments officer insisted his only option was to retire. Senior officers advised him to accept this new command. Marland described his new command and its geographic scope.

“I went to the Recruiting Battalion headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had a huge hunk of real estate: all of Utah, all of Montana, a corner of southwest Wyoming, southern Idaho, and a big hunk of Nevada. I had a recruiting company in Montana, a company in Idaho, and two companies in Utah, all commanded by Captain’s. Each had recruiting stations scattered across their territories. So, there was a lot of traveling. For instance, when I visited my company in Montana I’d fly there on Monday and fly home Friday night. In that time we’d visit all the stations in Montana. We got a lot of ‘windshield time’ in airplanes or cars.”

The Burckhardts lived on a small Army installation near Salt Lake City.

“Fort Douglas sat on the slope of the mountains east of Salt Lake City. That’s where we had quarters. There was my battalion headquarters and an Air Force recruiting headquarters. There were some Active Reserve and Active Guard folks who lived there. The post commander was an active duty Army colonel. There was a little CID (Criminal Investigation Division) Detachment, a chapel, and not much more. It had a little post exchange.”

Marland described their life at Fort Douglas.

“People were friendly, so it wasn’t traumatic. It was just another move. At first we couldn’t get into government quarters because there were so few. So, we unpacked into a little, rental property and spent six months there before getting into government quarters. We had to drive north to Hill Air Force Base for medical. Barb and the spouse of the Air Force recruiting unit, also a lieutenant colonel, hit it off, so they were pretty good friends. My daughter graduated from high school in Salt Lake City, Utah.”

He chuckled as he described a benefit of this assignment.

“Skiing was fabulous, so I got both kids on skis out there. It was a little too late for my daughter as she was finishing high school and wasn’t too sure about skiing. My boy picked it up quickly and became a good skier. A bus with a ski rack would stop at the gate of Fort Douglas. We used to take my son and a friend or two out there, ride the bus to the ski area, be gone all day, and come back that night. That was nice.”

Marland was selected for promotion while commanding his Recruiting Battalion and selected to attend the Army War College as his follow-on assignment.

©2025 William D. Palmer.