(3 of 5)
Up to the Point. When the time came to tame the colt, school proved easy for Buckner. Glib of tongue and a quick reader, he kept up with his classes without too much effort. He attended various Kentucky schools, then entered Virginia Military Institute a year after the graduation of a football hero named George C. Marshall. Two years later President Theodore Roosevelt awarded Buckner a West .Point appointment. He graduated syth in a class of 107.
As a career officer Buckner served two tours in the Philippines. That meant hunting and fishing trips through the islands, frequently along coasts where warlike Moros had been known to kill sportsmen for the brass fittings on their boats. He served two tours in Texas, where his hunting companions sometimes included Courtney Hodges and Omar N. Bradley.
But such trips were only occasional relief from the drudging work of the junior infantry officer. Buckner became a tough, exacting drillmaster. He drove his troops hard. No soldier ever complained that he did not hear what Buckner said. During World War I, promoted to temporary major, Buckner suffered understandable frustration trying to drill good military manners into the reckless, daredevil flight training squadrons of those days. He improved his time by learning to fly. After the war Buckner, although he kept an interest in aviation, went back to his beloved infantry.
Back to the Point. Twice Buckner returned to West Point to teach and spruce up cadet discipline. While serving there as an instructor from 1919 to 1923, he sat with Majors Edwin Butcher and Charles H. Bonesteel on the famous "Three Bs Board" that controlled plebe training. Dealing in stern justice, this board handed down demerits strictly according to the book. Rumbles went through the Army; many a general had a son at the Academy. But still the demerits came down. Buckner also plumped for physical conditioning to make West Point hard as nails. Complained one parent: "Buckner forgets that cadets are born, not quarried."
The General was back at the Point again from 1932 to 1936, first as an instructor, then as Commandant of Cadets. Few who were there will forget it. At summer camp he was horrified to discover cold cream and after-shave lotion in some of the cadets' tents, and promptly consigned all such cosmetics to a Savonarolesque bonfire. Said Buckner: "Cadets should work and smell like men."
Skeptical cadets searched in vain for chinks in Buckner's armor. When his dogs upset his duck boat, he came ashore complete—boots, gun, shells, dogs, ducks and boat—and continued hunting. If he lets wet clothes dry on him, he explained, a man will never catch cold.
Between his tours at West Point, Buckner returned to school himself. He attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., graduated with honors, and was held over at Leavenworth for three years as an instructor at the General Service Schools. He attended the Army War College in Washington and was held over three years as the school's executive officer.