Thread: A Story For Veteran's Day

Here is an article written about my company from a journalist who was embedded with us on two different tours.


http://www.jonathanforeman.com/pdfs/...anity_fair.pdf

Wow, what a poor response. Well, no matter. I'm sure ink pen threads are much more intriguing.

Not a lot of us have stories like that to tell, Doc. I know I don't.

Thanks for sharing yours, though. All of you.

When I was stationed in West Germany the first time, in 83-85, I was in a tactical intelligence unit supporting the 8th Infantry Division, along the East German border. I was liaison with the local West German Army (Bundeswehr) unit. They asked us to help them provide training for their soldiers for identifying SMLM vehicles and taking the proper actions once identified. (SMLM-Soviet Military Liaison Mission). As Germany was still "officially" divied into the post-WWII occupation zones, the Soviets could cruise around, looking at military sites. We did the same thing in East Germany.

So, the German unit created fake SMLM plate and put them on a non-descript German car, and then three of us (myself and two Germans) were in the car in civilian clothes. We parked along a road on the German post and got out, pretending to take pictures, the German troops marched by, and their NCO tested them on the proper response (notify the local military police and military command with the plate number and description...pretty simple).

Evrything was fine until GI Joe decided to take a shortcut to work, trespassing on the German military base. He saw us and freaked out. The next thing we know, there is a platoon of MPs in front of us along with a Jeep-mounted machine gun. We are standing there with our hands in the air. I am telling the lt. that I am a US soldier, giving him my name, unti, etc. He didn't believe me (too many James Bond folms...the GRU or KGB would not waste an asset who spoke American English with no accent on a SMLM mission), even after looking at my ID card. So I handed him my Amex card. ONLY THEN he puts a call in to my CO...asking if she has a Starr in her unit...her response didn't help: "Depends....what has he done?"
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Another situation involved me actually doing training in the uniform of a Soviet Airborne officer, to give US troops a taste of a day in the life of a Soviet soldier (food, training, marching, political training...in English, but with a very thinck accent...I would speak with my "handler" and "translator" in Russian). Everyone except the Brigade Commander, his Intelligence officer, and my co-workers believed I was a Soviet defector (bogus papers, investigation docs, clearance docs, etc....all created by our team and sent to the "security" staff at the Brigade. The officer in charge of the secure area was very proud at how in depth his investigation was...all documents provided by me...about me.) So, I am walking around this post in a Soviet uniform, boots, medals, blue beret - the works. No one stops me. The only person who checks my ID is the clerk at the PX when I go to cash a check!!!!

Stars and Stripes later publish an article about the training...and who I really was. I asked the Intel officer how things were going...she said it would be wise not to return to that post for awhile.....

In the end, the training was valuable for the troops, letting them know how the other side lived (for a day at least) and for the staff, showing them that they should follow procedures, not do things on their own.

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When traveling to Berlin through East Germany, you had to stop at the Soviet checkpoints and have them stamp your orders. This should have taken no more than 5 minutes, but bureaucrats are the same everywhere, so you could be kept waiting for 20-30 minutes. Once, while handing the guard my papers in a light drizzle and noting that this kid (19 at the most) was shivering, I said to him in Russian "Guard duty sucks, no matter what Army you are in." He looked around real quick for a supervisor, nodded and smiled.

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On another visit to Berlin, I was driving a female member of my unit - and her cat. We went inside after showing the guard our papers. While they were "reviewing" them, I looked out the window to watch them inspect the exterior of the car: there stood a Soviet soldier, AK-47 on his shoulder, leaning towards the rear window, scratching at it with his finger, going "goochy-goochy" to the cat that was resting in the back.

Originally Posted by WireBeard

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When traveling to Berlin through East Germany, you had to stop at the Soviet checkpoints and have them stamp your orders. This should have taken no more than 5 minutes, but bureaucrats are the same everywhere, so you could be kept waiting for 20-30 minutes. Once, while handing the guard my papers in a light drizzle and noting that this kid (19 at the most) was shivering, I said to him in Russian "Guard duty sucks, no matter what Army you are in." He looked around real quick for a supervisor, nodded and smiled.

Truer words have never been spoken. Standing topside watch from midnight until 0400 on the cold steel deck of a submarine tied to a pier at the sub base in Groton, Connecticut in February is one memory I would like to have removed. Practically every sailor relieving the topside watch, day or night, every day of the year would stop first in the mess deck to choke down some food and grab a cup of coffee then climb up the ladder and out into the weather, cup in hand and accept the watch. Those cups never made it back down to the mess deck. Once emptied, the cup was always "float tested" and they always failed (in case you don't get it, the cups get thrown over the side). One day it became an issue that our submarines were going through entirely too many cups. (the china pattern on all US Navy ships is the same, white with a blue stripe. Before 1970 or so the cups had a stripe and an anchor)So the Commander of Submarine Group Two (COMSUB 2) ordered divers to go down at every pier on the base to retrieve cups. Well retrieve cups they did, thousands of them! There were cups down there as far back as WWII. It began with a single diver with a mesh bag who came up laughing saying the river bed there looked as though it was made of white china. They got a small barge with a little crane and lowered a basket down for a team of divers to fill with cups. It looked like a dredging operation. They found so many cups it seemed impossible. They also found two .45's and an M-14.

Originally Posted by icedog

Truer words have never been spoken. Standing topside watch from midnight until 0400 on the cold steel deck of a submarine tied to a pier at the sub base in Groton, Connecticut in February is one memory I would like to have removed. Practically every sailor relieving the topside watch, day or night, every day of the year would stop first in the mess deck to choke down some food and grab a cup of coffee then climb up the ladder and out into the weather, cup in hand and accept the watch. Those cups never made it back down to the mess deck. Once emptied, the cup was always "float tested" and they always failed (in case you don't get it, the cups get thrown over the side). One day it became an issue that our submarines were going through entirely too many cups. (the china pattern on all US Navy ships is the same, white with a blue stripe. Before 1970 or so the cups had a stripe and an anchor)So the Commander of Submarine Group Two (COMSUB 2) ordered divers to go down at every pier on the base to retrieve cups. Well retrieve cups they did, thousands of them! There were cups down there as far back as WWII. It began with a single diver with a mesh bag who came up laughing saying the river bed there looked as though it was made of white china. They got a small barge with a little crane and lowered a basket down for a team of divers to fill with cups. It looked like a dredging operation. They found so many cups it seemed impossible. They also found two .45's and an M-14.

Very interesting story!

Thanks to all of you guys for your service, and for taking the time to share some interesting stories!

Originally Posted by Whiggamore

Not a lot of us have stories like that to tell, Doc. I know I don't.

Thanks for sharing yours, though. All of you.

If you are a veteran, more than likely you have a story, combat or not please share it, are we not a band of brothers just the same! We have the Army and the navy here where is the Chair Force and the Corps?

I connived a 3 day pass one time when I was stationed onthe DMZ at a little place called Camp Liberty Bell(please google)I had some money in my pocket and decided to go to Seoul and try to remember what civilization looked like. I rode the bus to Yongigol and picked up my current girlfriend and went south for a couple of days. We got to Seoul and decided to get something to eat at a busy restaurant, while we were eating a group of ROK(Republic of Korea) Army special forces guys came in and placed their order, while they were waiting on their chow they were drinking and BSing rather loudly and some of their comments were directed at me, they probably thought I was one of the REMFs from Yongsan and as such thoroughly useless, this offended Li and she spoke up(and I thought oh ****)and told them that I was stationed on the Z . They asked her for confirmation so she asked me for my DMZ pass(lets you into the zone) and it is printed with your info english on one side, Korean on the other, They passed it around each of them taking a turn reading it. It was returned to me and everyone was smiles, we ate, we drank and when we got done I started to pay for my portion of the feast but was promptly told to put the wallet away, as they were very insistent and outnumbered me 6>1 I went along with it. As we left I noticed that they didnt pay for the meal either and we went out the door the ROKs hailed a couple of cabs and we all got in and blasted off to someplace else in the big city and continued our eating and drinking binge(was so glad I could handle the native liquor) But we paid for nothing, the Rok SF paid for absolutely ZIP! If they wanted it they asked and got it! No one told them no or to pay up, I had a very good time with these guys and although the hangover was rather monstrous the next day its still amemory I cherish. I wished I wouldve kept the beret that was offered me, it wouldve been a great momento.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

If you are a veteran, more than likely you have a story, combat or not please share it, are we not a band of brothers just the same! We have the Army and the navy here where is the Chair Force and the Corps?

I'm not a veteran. Thanks to the sacrifices of past generations I may never have to be, either. We'll see.

Ingredients:

2 NY Strip Steaks
1 onion
1 bell pepper
Salt
Pepper
Butter
Herbs of your choice
Several layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil
Heavy wire (stripped commo or demo wire works fine)
1 Standard U.S. Army Jeep, Truck, Utility, ¼-Ton, 4x4, M151A2
1 standard German winter or a cooler
Fork
Meat thermometer

Drive the Jeep at least 10 miles to heat the engine block and manifold. Gently tenderize the steaks with the fork. Wash the fork. Season both sides of the steaks, add roughly chopped onion and pepper, then a dollop of butter on the top of each steak.

Wrap the steaks in several layers of foil, flipping the packet each time, so the seams are on opposite sides.

Wedge the steak packet into a recess in the manifold and secure with some wire, in case of bumps.

Drive the vehicle for 20-30 minutes, stop, check meat temp, keep driving until desire doneness.

Serve with German beer and broetchen (rolls) traded for MRE's (Army pre-fab food) with the local kids.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!