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STAFF SERGEANT MORGAN P. YATES, FORT ORD CA., 1989-1993

Hi Greg:

I ran across your webpage on Ft. Ord/7th ID/Gen. Stillwell recently and wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for compiling the information. I was originally looking for maps of Ft. Ord to help me compare it to the CSUMB campus now located on the former post, but then I dropped down the Gen. Stillwell rabbit hole and found your site.

My interest is personal of course: I was stationed at Ft. Ord from Nov. 1989 to May 1993, with almost a year of that time deployed overseas. Consequently, I have great nostalgic fondness for the place and the Monterey area generally. My wife and I were there earlier this month - I've been back numerous times over the years, including a training trip with my CA National Guard unit in '94 before BRAC closed it down.

Much to my delight, in your lead image (below) I recognized my first barracks (T-1708) and my company's HQ building (571st MP Co. in T-1729) in the middle foreground. I was unaware until reading your website that the Division HQ buildings were originally located in this area. The Law Enforcement Command offices were in one of the buildings behind the old division HQ, so I knew this little piece of the post very well.

After I transferred to the 7th MP Co. I lived in (T-1769) at the top of the hill just to the left of your 1950s view below. We nicknamed if the Heartbreak Hotel and built a deck off one end for BBQ's. The barracks across from us had a short observation tower on the roof and that is where this image was taken. By the time I arrived these barracks had been converted to two-person or individual rooms - mostly for single NCO's. But many of the surrounding buildings were empty even in my time. I can recall listening to the surf on the beach from my second-floor room; not bad for Army living! The 7th MP Company "HQ" was located at the east end of the building now called Ocean Hall and has long been occupied by the Leon Panetta Institute. After my recent visit I did find a 2003 Corps of Engineers map that identifies a number of current CSU facilities:

2003 CORPS OF ENGINEERS MAP
2003 Corps of Engineers Map. Contributor: Dennis Sun

But I must say it was a little difficult orienting myself on campus because much of the old post has been fenced off, and as you've noted, some blocks of the old barracks have been torn down. I do remember going through the old barracks with my wife years ago before it was fenced off. I'm glad I was able to share this with her as we met after I got out and my time at Ord was eventful and deeply etched in my memory. Most of the stateside posts I was connected to are closed now, as is the kaserne in Germany where I was stationed. That's why seeing old maps, images, and websites such as yours helps to jog the memory.

Thanks again for pulling this all together. Cheers, Morgan

April 22, 2022

Morgan P. Yates
Corporate Archivist
Automobile Club of Southern California

Morgan P. Yates, staff sergeant
571st MP Co & 7th MP Co
Fort Ord Ca., 1989-1993

Fort Ord Locations
Associated with My Time On Post
Morgan P. Yates, staff sergeant
571st MP Co & 7th MP Co
(1989-1993)

My first barracks (T-1708) is at the bottom of this street at right where it tees into 3rd Street. Across from it is T-1709 and the smaller building just up from it is T-1729. This was the 571st MP Company area in my time. - Morgan

Editors note for above image: 7th Division Headquarters buildings, T-1044 and T-1045 (A-22 buildings, 2 story administration buildings) are located between the flagpole in the above picture and are located on 2nd Street and are still there as of 2010. Most people in the area do not realize they are there and were the Headquarters for the 7th Division and General Stilwell in the early 1940's. The above image is a wonderful picture showing us the layout of their headquarters with the review stand below the flagpole. Barracks (T-63), T-1708, T-1709, T-1710, and T-1711 can be seen in the above picture and are located on 3rd Street and are facing the Headquarters building up on the hill. All the barracks in UNIT 4 are still standing as of the year 2010. Company orderly room (storehouses) (SA-1) and mess halls (M-170) are behind the barracks. I am not sure when the picture was taken and looking at the cars I would say the late 1940's or early 1950's.

Behind the headquarters buildings are the Officer's Quarters Mess barracks (OQM-40) T-1024 and T-1025 they also are still standing. The OQM-40 barracks east of these up by the college were recently torn down in 2009. All the OQM-40 in UNIT 4 are still standing as of March 2010.

Image Credit: Greg Krenzelok -Director-Historian, U.S. Army Veterinary Corps Historical Preservation Group Collection.

FORT ORD, CALIFORNIA. LOCATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH MY TIME ON POST, MORGAN P. YATES, STAFF SERGEANT, 57ST MP CO. AND 7TH MP CO., 1989-1993

- Bldg. T-2798 (Martinez Hall): Reception center for newly arrived personnel. I spent my first days on post here after arriving 29 November 1989. In-processing took less than a week and ended once I was assigned to my unit. I don't recall if this is where I was billeted during that time or in nearby barracks. I do remember meeting here for first formation and PT each morning.

- Bldg T-1708: I was housed in this barracks on the 2nd floor after being assigned to the 571st MP Co. I shared a room with another E-5. There were approximately 8-10 rooms per floor, double occupancy. I recall this building being nearly fully occupied as it also housed lower enlisted. Dec 1989 - Nov 1990

- Bldg T-1729: 571st MP Co headquarters/day room/CO/1SG offices

- Bldg T-1709: platoon offices, supply in this building. I believe the arms room was located elsewhere - but I don't recall location.

- Bldg T-1769: Barracks for single NCO's of the 7th MP Co. I had a single occupancy room on the second floor facing the beach (East). The barracks had been partitioned just like 1708 & 1709. Latrines and showers on south end and small storage rooms on north end. There were probably 8-12 people living in this building during my time, though the number fluctuated as troops arrived and departed. 7th MP Co had far fewer assigned troops than the 571st.

- CSUMB 86 Ocean Hall: Concrete building divided into five spaces, 7th MP Co hq and arms room was in eastern most space. The building has for many years housed the Leon Panetta Institute.

- Bldg T-1735: This was the 1st Platoon dayroom for the 7MP and where we spent a lot of time. I recall that the other platoon dayrooms were nearby.

-Bldg T-1920 or T-1921: Housed the Ft. Ord NCO Academy, where I attended Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC), the first level of the Army NCO education system. It was a residence course lasting a month and I was quickly sent to it right after getting to the 571st as I was a relatively new E-5. NCO Academy murals have been found in T-1920 but I recall that our barracks didn't front on 1st Ave but was in the next building row east. The NCO Academy almost certainly occupied two or three buildings clustered together. The floorplan for bldgs 1920/1921 was still the open bay (single beds with footlockers) and a single bedroom at one end occupied by the class leader. Jan 1-Feb 1, 1990.

- Stilwell Hall (demolished 2003) Took part in a handful of events inside the building. The company used to conduct PT on the beach nearby (football, and various other group activities concocted by my CO) and at least a couple of reenlistment ceremonies that took place in the surf. We also used the parking lot next to the building as a start/finish point for the 2-mile run portion of our semiannual PT tests.

- Bldg 3562: newer high-rise enlisted barracks housed single lower enlisted troops of 7th MP Co. This building and others of similar footprint appear on the 2003 COE map (seemingly as an overlay to prior gridded older buildings that were all gone by my time on post and labeled "Troop Housing"). The newer structures are now all gone too per Google Satellite View. Buildings identified as Sanderling Hall (Bldg 3620) and Tortuga Hall at Divarty & 4th appear to be of the same design and currently in use by the university.

- One of the following buildings: T-1728, T-1727, T-1726, or T-1725 is where the Law Enforcement Command Sergeant Major had his own building in one of the smaller structures in this row. CSM Banks (he was previously my first sergeant in Germany - small world) had one or two admin staff with him (E-5 or so). The building was closed not long before I left Ft. Ord and so I liberated the wooden sign that hung over the entrance, and it now graces a wall in my garage.

Provost Marshall SGM bldg. ENTRANCE SIGN. The proceeds of Operation Midnight Acquisition. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

OTHER POST LOCATIONS:

- Bldg 4230 The Habitat for Humanity ReStore on the east side of the AAFES exchange was a post movie theater.

- Bldg 4405: Burger King on northeast corner of Gen. Jim Moore Blvd and Gigling Rd, building still stands but appears empty

- Silas B. Hayes Hospital, now the DOD Center Monterey Bay. Visited there a handful of times - mostly to get Prednisone shots for wicked bouts of poison oak (Ft. Ord has it in abundance in the training areas)

- Post Library adjacent to and immediately NE of Chapel on Gen. Jim Moore Blvd (Google assigns it 4275 Dr., Seaside, CA). I researched graduate schools in preparation for separating from the service here.

- Freeman Stadium (Now Cardinale Stadium) See picture of me with 7ID commanding general Marvin Covault at a division awards ceremony that concluded the 1992 "Week of the Bayonet" military skills competition. I was part of a two-man team that won the 9mm pistol competition.

MG Covault & SSG Yates, Week of the Bayonet 1992 on the field at Freeman Stadium, Ft. Ord. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

- Bldg 3560 Gym (now Otter Wellness Sports Center) spent some time in here but I was not a gym rat.

- So Called "Division Hill" where the infantry battalions were located. I occasionally worked the road as an MP and my duties would sometimes take me up here. I also spent six months in the Egyptian Sinai as part of the Multinational Force and Observers mission, and my 7th MP platoon was attached to the 4th Battalion/21st Infantry. When we rotated back in August 1991 I remember a return ceremony that was held with all the deployed troops arrayed in formation in the strip that is now a parking lot outside buildings 4790, 4792 & 4794. It appears that the university has made use of most of these buildings.

- Various training areas in what we termed "the backyard" including weapons ranges, Air Assault School, Combat Leaders Course, Military Operations in Urban Terrain complex - we called it MOUT City but it is now called Impossible City, Fritzche Army Airfield, and East Garrison. None of these areas appear on the COE map.

Mk-19 qualification range at Ft. Ord, 1990. That's me in the turret. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

Building T-1709 right behind the platoon with the company dayroom T-1729 in background at left. This was our company street. Both buildings appear in the 1950s image referenced above. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

The MP Platoon in the Egyptian Sinai, attached to 4/21 Infantry for a Multinational Force and Observers rotation, Summer 1991 (I'm third from left). The man in civilian clothes was our attached CID agent, a warrant officer. He wore civies for the entire deployment! Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

Desk Sergeant, South Camp, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, 1991. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

Deployment for the Los Angeles riots of 1992, showing a few of us liaising with LAPD officers - we rode with them off and on. That's me on the right with the M203 standing next to my CO. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

An image I took showing the company during the LA deployment (we were greatly understrength at this point with a lot of people rotating on PCS or leaving the service). Our CO is briefing us in front of the hangars at MCAS El Toro in Orange County, which is where we flew in to on the evening of May 1, 1992. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

Joint Readiness Training Center rotation @ Ft. Chaffee, AR, Feb-Mar 1992. Our platoon was attached to the 9th Infantry Regiment for the training, which was one of the first to mix light (7ID) with heavy (24ID Mechanized) forces. It was also one of the first rotations to incorporate the MK-19 40mm grenade launcher into the MILES (multiple integrated laser engagement system) weapons training. I'm kneeling at right. The other three troops were all with me on the Sinai deployment the previous year. I found out on this rotation that I had been promoted to staff sergeant. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

The last shot is of our unit using the rappelling tower at Ft. Ord sometime in 1992 or early 1993. I have no idea whether it is still there. Image Credit: Morgan P. Yates Collection.

Greg, I took your panoramic image and labeled T-1709 along with T-1708 (my first assigned barracks at Ord) and the company street location where that photo of my platoon was taken on the eve or our departure to Honduras in July 1990. The barracks visible at the top of the hill with the short tower on its roof is a dead giveaway that I have the location correctly identified. - Morgan. Note: This is a panoramic image use you mouse and slide bar to slide the image to the right to locate T-1709 along with T-1708 and view complete image.

I've included images above taken from my barracks room in T-1769 showing T-1768 with its tower, along with my Ford Ranger pickup parked next to 1768. These were taken sometime in 1992 or early 1993.

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