After APG, 7 February 1956, I flew from McGuire AFB to Rhein-Main AFB……….took a lovely train ride from Frankfurt to Baumholder. Well, EOD or not, the 7th Army Chemical Depot made me a truck driver. It was here that I experienced hauling unexploded goodies from depots in Kaiserslautern to the demolition fields in Birkenfield. Enjoying the 4th of July fireworks while it snowed I knew I had to leave "THE ROCK".
August 1956 I was reassigned to our depot in Stuttgart and worked out of the then 7th Army Headquarters at Patch Barracks. While there I was the scoutmaster and worked for General Bruce Clarke the CINC.
My DEROS came in July 1958 and I shipped back to CONUS and separated from Fort Sheridan, IL.
There was a steel strike in the states that year so I took the only out………….reenlisting and going to Fort Knox. After a few months there I went back to Germany. This time to Straubing and the 11th Armored Cav.
April 1961 I took another shot at Stuttgart and the Seventh Army G1 at Patch Barracks. It was here that I worked as the Seventh Army Boy Scout Coordinator. It was during that period of time I made many encounters with the AFRC.
My Scout Commissioner Training took place at Chiemsee and Garmisch. I worked with the Black Horse District out of the SACOM at Robinson Barracks, Stuttgart. Our then District Commissioner, Colonel Keene, had a massive heart attack and died. Since we used the old and unused lodge, near the shooting range in Garmisch, I recommended the lodge be named after the Colonel in behalf of the Transatlantic Council. Thus the "KEENE LODGE" became a scouting hall. Much closer to southern German Army sites than Camp Freedom way up north of Giessen.
I returned to CONUS in 1962 and was assigned to the 45th Artillery Brigade in Arlington Heights (Chicago), IL as Housing Manager. September 1964 I was shipped to Vietnam where I worked in counter insurgency operations for SPERRY RAND (Air America) in lovely Duc Hoa. September 1965 I returned to the 45th as their Classified Document Control NCO. I did not like Chicago all that much so I applied for and was reassigned to the AG School at Fort Ben Harrison.
March 1967 I left Harrison and went to Ulm, Germany where I was assigned as the Housing Manager. It was here that I met my (soon-to-be) wife.
October 1970 we were married………..spent our honeymoon in Berchtesgaden and the rest is history.
AFRC grabbed me up and I found the one place that will never leave my thoughts.
November 1975 I retired from the Army at Fort Benjamin Harrison.
I went to work for the then USAFAC in Military Pay. A few years later I became the assistant to the Director and Deputy Director of Retired Pay Operations. In 1995 RPO went to Cleveland and I landed in the DFAS Accounting Office, where I now still work for Uncle.
Retire………..well it does cross my mind time to time, but what would I do at home? Maybe in a couple of more years I’ll get the itch to move on…………er retire.
