“As long as you have the patience, they’ll turn out all right.”

William E. Vicars

William Vicars, 1959. War: Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Branch: Army Unit: 173rd Airborne Brigade; 18th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division Service Location: Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Carson, Colorado; Germany; Vietnam Rank: Command Sergeant Major Place of Birth: IL

William Vicars spent 21 years in the Army to learn something about himself—that he was a born teacher. Vicars enlisted a year out of high school and did two tours of Vietnam. On his second tour, at the age of 29, he was called “The Old Man” by the recruits in his platoon. From an early career encounter with an officer named David Hackworth, Vicars had learned to watch out for the lowliest soldiers. He maintained tight discipline within his platoon, even as morale was disintegrating around him. After he retired from the Army in 1980, Vicars became a high school ROTC teacher in El Paso, where he grew up. He has thrived on giving young people a sense of purpose and discipline in their lives and is especially proud of turning around the lives of troubled youth.