<p><em>Gilbert Richard “Chip” Collins III</em> was born on February 3, 1955 at Fort Benning, GA, the only child of Colonel Gilbert Collins, a 30-year Infantry officer, and Phyllis, a white glove Army wife. Chip and his parents moved around the country, as Army families have a tendency to do, and after his father retired from the Army they settled in Colorado Springs, CO. Even though he lived near the Air Force Academy, Chip never considered attending it because the Army was in his blood.<br />Instead of attending a regular high school like most teenagers, Chip chose the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell as a way to assure his admission to West Point, his lifelong dream. Chip reported to West Point on July 2, 1973 with members of the Class of 1977, successfully completed Beast Barracks, and was assigned to Company E, 4th Regiment. As a plebe, Chip kept a low profile around the upperclassman.<br />However, once he became an upperclassman, Chip’s playful personality emerged. He could frequently be heard crooning along with Alice Cooper on an 8-track stereo. Sometimes to annoy his roommates, Chip would play John Denver’s “Colorado Rocky Mountain High” repeatedly. Chip played cards every chance he got, especially spades and hearts. He also enjoyed touch football on the Plain with his E-4 brethren.<br />Chip’s jet black hair, easy manner, athletic build, and twinkling eyes allowed him to attract any girl. He knew all the angles, and he volunteered to be a cadet escort for the buses carrying the girls to West Point from the local women’s colleges. The reason he gave for volunteering was because the escort got the “pick of the litter,” and he dated some very pretty girls.<br />On weekends, Chip and a friend would hop into a car secreted away in Highland Falls for trips to an all-girls catholic school in New Jersey. On these trips, Chip would talk about how lucky he was to be at West Point and how he always wanted to be an Infantry officer. Even then he couldn’t wait to get to Germany. These trips always ended in a rush back to the barracks just as “Taps” was playing.<br />After graduation and Ranger School, Chip was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, Fort Polk, LA. He and three of his classmates purchased a house in Leesville. Just up the street lived a major from Chip’s battalion. In accordance with centuries of Army wife tradition, no bachelor officer should have too much fun nor go unmarried for too very long. A date was arranged between Chip and the major’s wife’s sister, Maria. Chip and Maria became inseparable and eventually married on May 15, 1982, shortly before Chip attended the Infantry Officer Advanced Course.<br />Chip commanded a company during his first tour at Fort Polk and branch qualified early. His subsequent assignments included ROTC at Texas A&M and being detailed to the Quartermaster Corps in Germany, where he served as the S3 of the 501st Forward Support Battalion. The Army permanently transferred Chip to the Quartermaster branch after he returned from Germany. In 1990 Chip was assigned to the 13th COSCOM at Fort Hood, TX, where he served as a XO of the 4th Corps Material Management Command. Chip was deployed twice from Fort Hood on Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1990 and to Somalia in 1992. After a brief stint at Texas Tech University, Chip’s final active duty assignment was as logistics assistance officer to the 1st Cavalry Division.<br />After retirement, Chip leveraged his logistical expertise, became a consultant with Camber Corporation, and remained at Fort Hood writing logistics doctrine, as well as assisting and evaluating III Corps units.<br />Chip took great pleasure in planning activities for his family and friends, whether it be hunting trips, camp outs, church activities with the Knights of Columbus, or attending class reunions.<br />His favorite event was his annual “Manly Man Weekend” at his brother-in-law’s camp in Glen Rose, TX. Chip would publish military-style warning and operations orders, and the men would gather to do manly things, such as eat red meat, smoke cigars, drink beer, sit around a camp fire telling lies, driving a tractor or an ATV, and shooting guns (but not necessarily in that order). Chip once said that the reason he held these Manly Man Weekends was so that his good friends, whom he considered a blessing, could get to know each other and become good friends.<br />When Chip was first diagnosed with cancer, these gatherings took on a new sense of urgency, because all knew his time was short. When Chip’s hair and beard grew back after chemotherapy, it appeared to grow back jet black, without any gray, and soft as a baby’s. Chip, ever the prankster, had everyone believing that his new jet-black hair was a result of chemotherapy, when in fact it was “Just for Men.”<br />Chip is remembered fondly by his family and friends for many attributes:<br />• His disarming smile and twinkling, mischievous eyes, the eyes of a child perpetually caught with his hand in a cookie jar.<br />• His sensitivity, compassion, and gentleness.<br />• His selflessness and sense of service.<br />• His bravery in facing and defeating the demons of cancer so that he could see his eldest daughter marry and hold his first grandchild.<br />• His honor and loyalty.<br />• His love of the Army.<br />• His unselfish love of family and friends, whom he considered his greatest blessing.<br />Chip is survived by his wife, Maria; his daughters, Katherine and Cassandra; and his grandsons, Dustin and Gabriel.<br /><em>— Jerry Dittman, classmate</em></p>