DOD to Transfer 22 Bases to Germany

Department of Defense ^ | June 23, 2010 | staff

[calex59]

I am sure it was. I made it there more than a few times while on pass and leave but was stationed out in the boonies. Most of my tour of Germany included Graf and Hoenfels 2 times per year:)

[SJSAMPLE]

I was in the artillery before heading up to V corps.
Grafenwoehr and Crete were my old shooting ranges.

Crete, now THERE was a duty assignment.

[SJSAMPLE]

Almost all of them were old German bases that were occupied right after Germany surrendered. My first base, Fliegerhorst Kaserne in Hanau, was a Luftwaffe base. Even until the early 1990s, there were underground bunkers that were flooded with water and sealed, in order to keep the curious out. Rumor was that they were boobie-trapped by the Germans and that some of them contained priceless German aircraft under all that water.

Of course, improvements to the bases often left them looking “like new”.

[calex59]

Never went to Crete. I was in Armor, M48s and M60s, turret mechanic and Armorer(small arms for the company), most of the time. I liked it in the field actually because the CS was less severe then. CS = Chicken Sh** just to let you know. Hoenfels was one hilly SOB, but fun to run around in, as long as you had a vehicle to carry you!

[SJSAMPLE]

My unit was one of the very few allowed to actually maneuver in the German countryside. We fired our missiles in Crete, but we deployed to our LDAs, hide areas and LPs in the German countryside, in our actual war-ready positions. I spent my time at Hoenfels as part of V Corps.

[calex59]

Since I was in a strike outfit, namely Combat Command A(there were also B and C)we were allowed free reign during our alerts, which happened once a month. We tore up many roads and side walks, especially in the summer when the asphalt was hot. We had to be careful of trees and such however. The Germans had a system down, if we ran over a chicken, they could claim that chicken, the eggs the chicken would have laid and the chickens that would have resulted for about 3 generations.

We were extremely careful about damaging anything but still there were many claims every alert. One town claimed the same end connector marks on a side walk every month, until someone finally wised up.

[SJSAMPLE]

Yep.
I was the Battalion “claims officer” for about 8 months. Paid about $50K per maneuver. Worse when we had a diesel spill.