Arthur Mouton, Sergeant

“I was going to go in under my own conditions.”  Thus spoke Art Mouton, who served in the US Army in 1969 and 1970 with the 3rd Cavalry, 3rd Squadron, injecting his oral history with humor and verve.

Mouton was born at the end of World War II when his father served as legal officer for the US Navy.  He grew up largely in Lafayette where his family lived for seven generations: notably Acadian founder Jean Mouton, was his ancestor. As small city of 30,000 with unique French Catholic roots, Lafayette was close-knit and a showed relative tolerance toward race. He enjoyed the freedom of running around, playing sports, and reading popular history.  His ham radio hobby, listening to Radio Moscow and receiving literature from them resulted in a stern letter from the FBI to his father, an indication of the looming presence of the Cold War.

After graduation from Cathedral High School, Mouton studied history at the already desegregated University of Louisiana. He then studied law at the University of Tulane but after the Tet Offensive, his life changed dramatically as student military deferments were removed. A week after his marriage in June 1968, Mouton received his 1A Classification and the following fall, the head of the Louisiana Draft Board spoke to his junior law class. Mouton did not want to be a conscientious objector though had mixed feelings about the war and certain opposed the protests. Instead, he chose to follow the example of duty of his father and grandfather.  Mouton went to the Recruitment Center in New Orleans, learned that he could complete his semester at Law School and thus enlisted.

Shortly later he began basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. There was a feeling among both enlisted and draftees in Company A, 1^st Battalion, 1^st BCT [Basic Combat Training Brigade] that they were all in it together and a realization that training properly could mean the difference between life and death.  Mouton left the OCS program, not wanting to postpone his return to Law School longer than necessary.

Learning how to use the M14 was straightforward due to his previous hunting experience. As a twenty-three-year-old, he was older than the drill instructor, but both took this in stride. Mouton was less excited by living in condemned World War II barracks or by KP but coped. After graduation, Mouton was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps at Fort Lee, Virginia, unusual since most men simply marched over to their Infantry AIT at Fort Polk. The first course taught was on how to manage a supply unit. The barracks at Fort Lee were better than at basic, the schedule more flexible, and Mouton found the situation fairly comfortable. He graduated first in the class and was double promoted in one day from an E2 to an E4. He then took the advanced course in mechanized stock control and accounting where used the NCR 500, early card punch computer.

Mouton and two other men got their orders to Vietnam about two days after the rest, shattering their brief illusion that they were to become instructors. But Lady Luck showed her hand - at the out-processing at the Oakland Army Base, Mouton’s name was no longer found on the list. Nixon’s diversion order obliged him to refrain from deploying troops for two weeks.

Instead, Mouton was in charge of twenty others to Fort Lewis, Washington. They were to join the 3^rd Cavalry 3rd Squadron there. Relieved that none of the guys went AWOL, serendipity surfaced again. Mouton connected with an E-6 personnel sergeant, who also studied at Tulane University who appointed Mouton as the squadron’s legal clerk sorely needed due to changes in the judicial system. Article 69 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice now allowed the Criminal Court of Appeal to review a court martial case. “And that’s where I stayed in the next year and a half” Mouton summed up.

His role was that of court reporter, but other responsibilities were far away from paperwork. He was required to qualify on a .45 pistol in the event that a prisoner whom he was driving to brig would try to escape!  As a STRAC, Strategic Army Corps unit, he practiced field exercises where he drove the M577A1 They could be deployed to Germany in forty-eight hours should there be a Soviet attack.

Mouton worked hard and was impressed by some of conscientious lieutenant colonels and executive officer majors for whom he worked. As a law student, he was taken aback by the military’s lack of constitutional rights such as ordering a man to open his locker so that it could be searched for drugs. Indeed, drug use was rampant. He recalls that the Criminal Investigation Division of the FBI found a military grease gun during a raid on a drug house in Oregon, which was traced back to the base’s arms room.

He lived with his wife in Tacoma, and he would commute to the base.   He enjoyed the mountainous environment very different than that of South Louisiana. After thirteen months there, he applied and received the rank of sergeant. Although, after Mouton understood that he would not be shipped to Vietnam, they were cognizant of those who did not return and Fort Lewis itself was responsible for burial detail.

Mouton was able to separate from the service, about one month early in January 1971. The couple immediately made their way back to Lafayette so that Mouton could resume law school at Louisiana State University Law School. He is highly appreciative of GI Bill. Mouton and his wife had two sons and one daughter, one of whom became a colonel in the Army. In hindsight, Mouton appreciates his military experience, the bonds he made, and the ability to have a common language with his son and his milieu.