Partial Poser- CSM (R) Richard B. Cayton

[RGR.Montcalm]

For all of you that don't know him, CSM (R) Richard B Cayton was a member of 1/75 back in the late 70- early 80's. He served as the RIP commandant and later as B co 1/75 1SG. he told stories of his capture and torture to every RIP Class that came through when 1/75 was at hunter AAF.

He was a self serving POS then but rose through the ranks to become the CSM of FORSCOM.

I will post a couple of links links for your viewing disgust.

RGR.M

http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies55.htm

http://oasdalerts.illumen.org/article.jsf?postId=6651

It just kills me that he was able to pull this off for so many years. I thought it was pretty significant that he was Dx'd from the Ranger Company based on opinions of his fellow Rangers that he caused the firefight to appear heroic to some...

Evidently, there are some 'issues with the 2 Silver Stars he claims to have been awarded- no DoD orders for either.

I know bstaggs knows this guy pretty well...

[Rover in Iraq]

RM,
You know me, we were in class 7-79 together. Anyway, I shot the first RSM a note on this (we periodically work together) and asked him how with all the Ranger Company vets we had (Grange, Fletcher, Ledford, Purdy, etc.;all Ranger Hall of Famers), Cayton didn't get outed abck then. It will be interesting to see what Gary says. Let you know when he gets back to me.
Rover

[bstag1/75]

Let the games begin!
I am not throwing stones just stating the facts.
IMHO things can be summed up by saying most of his time in BN was not spent in a line unit. That speaks volumes.
I do not understand why he felt the need to claim to be a POW or to tell the other BS stories much like Don Lamica told. Having gotten to BN before RIP [ and CSM Cayton ] I did not hear the POW stories from his mouth but did hear stories from others about how he was captured and that the cuts on his face were from torture. He loved to tell those stories to the cherries.Even then we questioned the stories just like we did Don Lamica's Ho Chi Minh Trail and pygmies with blow-gun stories. While I was a Bragg I had a prior-service Sgt. working for me who had served with G CO in Vietnam and we shared/compared some stories, he laughed out loud when I asked about the POW story.
CSM Cayton was a decent 1sgt not as good as Gary Carpenter, Dave Dalton, Tommy Shook etc... but not as bad as a lot of others. He was not the first nor will he be the last to do this.
He was driven by the desire to be CSM of The Army and worked hard to position himself for that job. The true shame here is he had a great career
and it was ruined by BS.
Since we are setting records straight it was Ranger Hog Brown who wanted to shoot every other man in the leg with a .22 and have us road march so we would know pain. A lot of people give credit to a ex Canadian CSM but Cpt. Brown was saying that back when the CSM was a SGT.
Guy/RM I wondered the same thing for years, why didn't some of the senior guys call BS. We/I spent years hearing some mighty tall tales and we all knew they were BS.
1st BN Ranger Ball is Mar. 20, Friday after St. Patricks Day hope to see some of you old farts there.

[Rover in Iraq]

I could of gone the rest of my life without hearing Lamica's name again. I was in AT PLT when it was consolidated in HHC and remembering him telling us that if we were ever hurt on the DZ on a real mission he would have to kill us so as not to compromise the mission. Ranger Conway looked at Lamica, stood at the position of parade rest and said, "SSG Lamica if we are ever on a real mission, and I am hurt on the DZ and conscious, don't even walk toward me." Those AT guys always were crazy. Lamica didn't so shit to Conway, what could he?

[Rover in Iraq]

Won't make the ball but looking at linking up with HR Navarro (another old fart) for Ranger Rondevous this year.

[RGR.Montcalm]

i could've gone a long time without hearing his name too.

I was in B Co Wpns then AT Plt under Lamica. We had a mutaul dislike for each other; when I was going to get married, he told me that I was in heat and love. when my wife was carrying my son, he made me drive in from Savannah, do PT, drive back to take her to the DR appt (only one car= PFC), then drive back out to Stewart to finish the day.

The best stories were the 'mercenary stories'; I heard later on there was a guy from his home town that got to B Co and busted him out, saying that he was working in his (the newbies) dad's store in the years claimed.

Having said all that, he was as hard as woodpecker lips...

[bstag1/75]

All of you AT guys were very special. I never had a desire to hump that big pipe around Camp Swampy much less any of the other locales we visited. [ Panama ] That being said our AT Plt was the best gunners in the world. All you had to see was one of the guys jump up stand with a 90mm on his shoulder, fire and hit the target at ranges that were unreal. My PC is off to anyone who humped one in AT.
Donald Phillip Lamica was a hard core SOB and did not need to enhance his reputation. He was as hard as he was dumb and that says a lot. If anyone remembers J.R. telling him to covertly take out this ZSU-23 then Lamica saying, roger that sir, fire the 90mm APERS, throw handgrenades and assault. J.R. said COVERT SSG Lamica COVERT! That was the funniest briefback I ever attended. Lamica said Roger That Sir! and repeated the same shit. The E-5 Mafia died laughing because he didn't have a clue what covert meant. When Grange sent Lamica to B Company it was a sad day for us. I will never foget being in 3rd Plt B Co at Fort Stewart sharing the building with C Co and listening to Spc 4 Lamica give C Co AT hell. Purdy and Eric Haney were also up there. On our side we had Big Ears Jones. I might not have been in 1st Batt when it was hard but I was there when it was stupid. I loved it ang they/it shaped me into the man I am today.

[bstag1/75]

RM
Do you remember Martine Green and his disco outfit? White shoes, white belt etc.... polyster lesiure suit. John Travolta at The Captains Longe. He worked for Donald P. and it drove him nuts. LOL

[bstag1/75]

Least I forget, I think Lamica and Cayton were at RIP at the same time, Cayton was the Commandant and Lamica, Chief Instructor. I may be wrong about this so this is really a question if any of you remember?

[Rover in Iraq]

Definitely remember Marty Green. Last time I saw him he was an E-8 at 1/10th SFG in Germany. Screwed over by yet another wife.....Guess he's retired now too.

[bstag1/75]

Is there anyone but RM and Mike Matt who kept the same wife? I asked Sanfeliz this the other day. I know that he, MaCafferty, myself and more didn't keep the same one. Mostly for me because I was/can be a asshole.
Lamica,Cayton seem to have kept theirs both have good wives who stuck by their husbands..... Hell maybe they could lie better than me/us.

[rgrjoe175]

Good lord... and I thought I was old....LOL

I never liked Cayton, reminded me of used car salesman.

JP

[RGR.Montcalm]

Originally Posted by bstag1/75

Least I forget, I think Lamica and Cayton were at RIP at the same time, Cayton was the Commandant and Lamica, Chief Instructor. I may be wrong about this so this is really a question if any of you remember?

Oh yes, i remember Marty Green and his smokin wife- he was screwing around her and thinking he was getting away with something until he found out she was 'swinging' while he pretended to be in the field...

Yep, King Richard as Commandant and Dangerous Don as the Chief Instructor...

[RGR.Montcalm]

Originally Posted by rgrjoe175

Good lord... and I thought I was old....LOL

I never liked Cayton, reminded me of used car salesman.

JP

Funny you mention that- anyone remember the 'mandatory briefings' he used to have for RIP Students? For insurance and "Ranger" items- belt buckles, coins, knives, etc...?

the dude that did the briefings had the whitest, brightest worst set of capped teeth I had ever seen. He made me want to wash my hands and check my watch when I shook his...

[Odin's Underling]

Originally Posted by bstag1/75

Let the games begin!
I am not throwing stones just stating the facts.
IMHO things can be summed up by saying most of his time in BN was not spent in a line unit. That speaks volumes.
I do not understand why he felt the need to claim to be a POW or to tell the other BS stories much like Don Lamica told. Having gotten to BN before RIP [ and CSM Cayton ] I did not hear the POW stories from his mouth but did hear stories from others about how he was captured and that the cuts on his face were from torture. He loved to tell those stories to the cherries.Even then we questioned the stories just like we did Don Lamica's Ho Chi Minh Trail and pygmies with blow-gun stories. While I was a Bragg I had a prior-service Sgt. working for me who had served with G CO in Vietnam and we shared/compared some stories, he laughed out loud when I asked about the POW story.
CSM Cayton was a decent 1sgt not as good as Gary Carpenter, Dave Dalton, Tommy Shook etc... but not as bad as a lot of others. He was not the first nor will he be the last to do this.
He was driven by the desire to be CSM of The Army and worked hard to position himself for that job. The true shame here is he had a great career
and it was ruined by BS.
Since we are setting records straight it was Ranger Hog Brown who wanted to shoot every other man in the leg with a .22 and have us road march so we would know pain. A lot of people give credit to a ex Canadian CSM but Cpt. Brown was saying that back when the CSM was a SGT.
Guy/RM I wondered the same thing for years, why didn't some of the senior guys call BS. We/I spent years hearing some mighty tall tales and we all knew they were BS.
1st BN Ranger Ball is Mar. 20, Friday after St. Patricks Day hope to see some of you old farts there.

Well, I guess I should throw in my two cents seeing that I was under their supervision at one time or another. In the case of then SFC Cayton, I have nothing bad to say about him when I was assigned to RIP. He got the ball rolling, with the help of CSM Morell and it was a very good program that no one can deny. While I was assigned to RIP, SFC Cayton never said anything to me about his days while assigned to a Ranger unit in Vietnam. I did, however, hear stories from the rest of the cadre that SFC Cayton had told them. I did not doubt SFC Cayton then as I had no idea as to if it was truthful and never gave it much thought. In the past on this forum when this subject was brought up I stated that I would be one of the first to call him a lying sack of shit if his stories of derring do where false. CSM Cayton is a lying sack of shit.

I know that SFC Cayton did not spend a lot of time in the line companies. What I was told was that on a jump he hurt his back and started firing star clusters in the air. This happened while there were jumpers in the air. I do remember that SFC Cayton had some deals going on with insurance and getting RIP students to sign up for that. BN HQ put a stop on this real quick as soon as they heard about it. The same thing with the checking accounts that were required by BN that all in the battalion had one.

I worked with SSG Lamica at RIP and as a squad ldr in 3rd Plt B Co. SSG Lamica told me to my face that he worked for the CIA and had jumped into Vietnam, all this when he was just a mere 17 year old lad. He has also told me of a time that he was in a blow gun ambush in South America. I don't know why these two individuals made the statements that they did either to myself or others. Ranger Staggs has pretty good knowledge of this as there is no denying in what he said here. With that being said, let's put this to bed once and for all. There have been at least two other threads talking about this. The dirty laundry is out there for all to see. Let's move on, shall we?

[bstag1/75]

Tom, you are 100% correct, both men served for a long period of time and over all I think they did a good job. RIP was established and turned out quality soldiers. D

[Sharky]

You guys sure you want this all out in public?

[bstag1/75]

Pardon my fat fingers that slipped.

Don Lamica was a hell of a Ranger, hard as Superman's kneecaps. He had no reason to lie to anyone nor did CSM {R} Cayton. Most of us would have killed just to say we served in one of the Ranger Companies in Vietnam or to have said we jumped in with BN. in July of 74. Enough said.
I just hope that some young Ranger/Soldier learns from these mistakes. I know I made plenty of major F_ _k ups and I would share everyone with you if I thought it would save some young troop from doing the same. This thread should be about helping other Rangers learn from the mistakes of others not about outing all our dirty laundry.
The one thing the BN needed back then was Senior NCOs we did not have very many. Most Sr NCOs would not come to BN unless forced too. CSM Morrell, RSM Carpenter, CSM Gates,CSM Dalton CSM Acbees, CSM Spears and many many others worked hard as hell to beat some sense into a bunch of us BN born and raised NCOs and they did a great job. A few of us made mistakes but it is a joy to go back and see how far The BN has come. So my point is the people these Rangers hurt the most is themselves not other Rangers their lies,stories whatever were to make themselves look good but I think just about everyone knew they were BS. Doc Donovan and I were talking about this same shit last month, it was common knowledge.
This has festered like a boil and know has been lanced and drained. Would I talk to them? Yes because of the time we served in BN with both men.CSM Cayton was BCo 1SG and CSM Lamica and I were PltSgts under him when we jumped into Grenada so we have a lot in common. I hate they lied but the truth is the truth.
They were not the first to enlarge their actions nor will they be the last. I know one retired CSM right now whose resume [His Company Web site] claims he was a B Co PltSgt in Grenada he was not but he was a squad leader. Enough said I have beat a dead horse long enough. Though I am not a Been There Done That user I will tell you the truth as I know it. Sorry if I piss anyone off.
RLTW!
Ranger Bryan Staggs
RLTW!

[Dark Helmet]

That's enough laundry aired for today. Thread closed.