Cdr. Errol C. BRIGGS
The Post 10 commander in 1999-2000, was born in Mechanic Falls, Maine, 29 January 1943, and grew up on a farm in western Maine. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree (Wildlife Biology) from the University of Maine and a Master of Science degree (Forestry) from the University of Massachusetts. He briefly joined the Peace Corps and spent the winter of 1967-68 in Hawaii learning the customs and language of the Fiji Islands before his Peace Corps career was cut short by a draft notice.
Rather than submitting to the draft, he enlisted in the U. S. Army in March 1968, and was commissioned an Infantry Lieutenant at Fort Benning Officer Candidate School a year later. After an initial assignment at Fort Lewis, he attended Military Assistance Training at the JFK Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, and the Defense Language Institute (Vietnamese) at Fort Bragg and Fort Bliss. For some time thereafter, he was able to confuse people in three languages.
From March 1970 to February 1971 Lieutenant Briggs was assigned to MACV (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam) as an advisor to the South Vietnamese military. His duty stations were in Kiên Giang Province in the southwestern Mekong Delta – at an artillery base on Núi Hòn Sóc mountain, on Phú Quốc Island off the Coast of Cambodia, and at Rạch Giá, the province capital. He earned his Combat Infantry Badge in action at Phnom Kaôh Krabâu in Cambodia.
Upon his return to the US, he joined the 3rd Bn, 304th Regt., 76th Div. in Montpelier, and during the next 27 years served in various positions in Montpelier, Portsmouth, NH (1st Bde., 76th Div.) Rochester, NH (1st Bn, 417th Regt.) and was Commandant of the 1035th USAR Forces School at Fort Ethan Allen. His final USAR assignment was as Army Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer for the State of Vermont. He spent is last 6 months of service conducting environmental research for the Vermont National Guard at Camp Johnson and the Ethan Allen Firing Range. He retired as a Colonel in 2000. His awards include the Combat Infantry Badge, Vietnam Service Medal with 3 bronze stars, the Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit.
He is past Commander of St. John VFW Post 9328 in Harrison, Maine, past commander of the Vermont Department of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, past president of the Vermont Department, Reserve Officers Association, and past Master of the Vermont State Grange.
In civilian life, he was a planner in the Vermont State Planning Office in the early 70’s when Act 250 was being implemented. He later transitioned to environmental consulting (general land use, wetlands, wildlife, endangered species, etc.) and for the past 40+ years has worked for companies in New London, NH, South Burlington, VT and Northfield, VT before founding his own company, Gilman & Briggs Environmental in Barre in 2005.
