Yep, after seeing your name, you seem familiar too.

I seem to remember Kingston and I know I remember Moreno. That guy was at B. Co, when I got there, and I think he was there when I left.

Hmm, I see you were in Extension PLT. B-400 series. I was right next to you guys in 3rd Herd. 4th squad, the biggest joker in our Platoon, and one of the biggest in the Company. I lived on the 4th floor, room 306. Me, Jenkins, Dottery, and Taylor (4-man room).

Blake & Cooke lived across the hall from us, with Robinson.

Our Robinson (3rd PLT) became CPT Parson's driver. He got in a fight with Robinson in your PLT (Extension). And I say your Robinson won, but our Robinson felt like he got the better end of the deal.

Ext. PLT's Robinson hit 3rd Herd's Rob so hard, his eye was swollen shut for like a week. That was by far the blackest black, blue, red, and blue eye I had ever seen. But, in landing that devastating hit, Ext. PLT's Robinson broke his hand. So, because the hitter ended up in ER, the black-eye guy felt like he won.


When I left 1SG Pitzenberger was Top, CPT Parsons was the CO, SFC Salas was my PLT SGT (He lives 1/2 mile from me now, in Dallas!) SFC Curry had 2nd PLT.

Other folks I knew, you might know:

PFC Bass (3rd PLT)
SPC Brosey (3rd PLT)
SPC Jenkins (3rd PLT)
SPC Cooke (3rd PLT- Cadence caller)
SGT Price (She and Cook got married)
SPC Davis (Ext. PLT)
SPC Godfrey (Ext. PLT)
SPC Holloway (Ext. PLT)
SPC Moreno (Ext. PLT)
CPL Powell (Former 3rd PLT, moved to 2nd PLT)
1LT Kracke (Female- God, she was fine... Her Husband was in Alpha Company)
1LT Roscoe (Was in B. CO 3rd PLT, moved to A. Co when he made 1LT)
SPC Beauford (1st PLT)
SPC Spann (1st PLT)

It was a great unit. I loved it. I was in a hurry to get back to the States... Thought I was missing something. If I could rewind, I'd have extended for another year there.

Fort Huachuca was cool, in that it was in the USA. But, as a duty station, it SUCKED. Especially if you didn't have a car. Fort Hood was OK.. Much better than Huachuca, but almost as big of a Dog & Pony show as the spit & polish 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg.

Korea totally rocked. Soldiers actually soldering, top to bottom.

I was in the field 1 Nov. 1989 - 30 Nov. 1989 (Thanksgiving too), when the Berlin Wall fell, and all those little itsy-bitsy, Mini-Cooper-would-look-like-a-Town-Car-next-to-them cars came pouring into what used to be West Germany. It was great to actually witness that.

But yeah, my dumb *** didn't take any pictures hardly. Was there 2 years, and I don't have any photos of me in Germany.

Did you ever make it to Normandy? I went to Epinal and represented 3rd ID in the D-Day parade there in 1988. I carried the 3rd ID Battle Flag (Color Guard), with all those campaign ribbons, with the Division Commander sitting about 10 feet in front of me. It was quite an honor.

 

Oh yes, I was in Ext platoon before they rearranged the platoons for MSE. I think eventually Bass ended up in out platoon...which I think was 1st platoon after the rearranging. I remember Moreno and some of the others.

SFC Curry ended up being the acting 1SG. He remained a SFC, but he was the 1SG.

I was on the 1st floor, at the end up the hall on the right. The room that butts up against the public sidewalk/street.

You probably knew of SSG Shepard. Before the MSE came and shortly thereafter, he was my team chief. Then later on it became Dixon (I think he got CPL). SSG Shepard married one of the younger females in our platoon - one that came around the same time I did. Don't remember her name.

I never went to Normandy. In '89, I was on the Display Determination exercise in Turkey. Me and my switch team and a few others went (SGT Aspinwall and so on). Went to Italy (Camp Darby) first and then on a ship over to Turkey.

I had a German friend and we went on a trip to Berlin in 1991 I think it was. We also went to Leipzig and Dresden. It was a weird experience seeing how the East lived compared to the West. Dresden was a beautiful city even though it was run down/neglected by the commies. I actually have pictures of the Soviet troops that were still there in Leipzig. There may be a picture of them in the gallery - not sure.

After I went back to the states, I went to Ft Polk, LA. I was there until 1993 when I ETS'd. The unit I was with moved to Ft Hood. That was the time Ft Polk was transitioning into a big training center. So for a few months I had nothing to do since I was too short to move to Ft Hood. I worked in the gym for awhile...LOL 1 day on, 2 days off.

 

Dixon! I knew that dude with the high top fade in your pix looked familiar. Couldn't put a name to the face though.

Sergeant Aspinwall- I remember her... Boy, she could not run to save her life. I remember CPT Parsons used to make her the pace-setter on those LSD runs. People woudl complain "This is too slow!" then some PLT SGT or top would say, "Grab the guidon, and do laps around the company (as we jogged) if you need to stretch your legs!"

I remember SSG Sheppard's name, but can't put a face to it.

Yeah, when 5th ID deactivated those folks moved to Fort Hood. That's how I ran across Cook & SGT Price. They were both E-5's by then, and they were reorganized as 2nd Armored Division. Later on, Fort Carson closed, and those folks moved to Fort Hood too, and 2nd Armored was again deactivated and the unit became 4th ID, and later part of the Force 21 modernization, which was well underway right when I ETS'd in late 1996.

Yep, if you were there in 1989, we've definitely crossed each others paths. SFC Curry, last I heard was a CSM. I think my boy Jenkins (Roomate at 123rd SIG) ran across him in Iraq back in 2006. Jenkins is an SFC now, up for MSG. He re-enlisted for Hawaii.

Cook is an SFC now too. If I'd stayed in, we'd all have 20 years in now. I know Jenkins didn't retire at 20- he plans to do 22-24, and Cook was still goign strong last time I saw him.

God I miss it... Although I'm making 3-4 times what I was making as a Sergeant in the Army, all things being equal, I'd have stayed in. But, soudns like you did good, you're an officer now... That's great.

I started to do the Green-to-Gold (Enlisted to Officer) program, and come back in as an officer, but in 1996, I'd had my fill, and didn't think I'd want to come back. I was 27 then, and didn't think I could knock out 4-5 years of college in 3.5 years or less, to make it to OCS before age 31 (Green to Gold cut-off age)- which is another reason I didn't pursue it.

After I got to Fort Hood, two of the guys on my LEN team, both applied for, and were accepted to Warrant Officer Candidate School. They both made it through WOCS and their MOS schools. They are probably still Warrant Officers in the Army today. That's the direction I'd have gone in, had I stayed. After E-6, you have no control over your promotions. I didn't want to be like some of those jokers. Be an E-6 with 18 years TIS, and get forced out, like so many did...

Can you imagine having 18 years in, then getting kicked out and leavign with nothing- for failing to progress (even though you have little/no control over that), and you could retire at 20?!

 

You sure have a good memory. I'm starting to forget all the amry terms after having been out of it for too long.

SGT Aspinwall...yikes! Not too easy on the eyes if you know what I mean...LOL

Oh no...I never became an officer, but the last CPT I worked for in the reserves (HHC in a PSYOP Bn) and the CO suggested I take the steps to become an officer. I would have liked that, but I am too busy and make way too much money to fool with it. Maybe if I had done it early on I would have gone for it...but at the time they suggested it, I was well into my civilian career and I just couldn't do it.

Oh yes...I think the warrant officer route is the way to go. Those guys always seem to have had it made.

 

That might have been him, especially if he was signal. Before he and I went to AIT together, he was an artillery man in 24th ID out of Fort Stewart Georgia. So, if you saw a big/tall joker with a 24th ID combat patch on his right shoulder, chances are- that was him. I never saw how he handled an M-16 in person, but if I remember correctly, he was an expert with that rifle, just like I was.

Bryant had a build like an NBA player when I saw him last, and he'd just goten married before he came to AIT. He was funny though. He had one of those looks that you couldn't really tell if he was serious or not.

He and I went to AIT together, Dec. 4, 1991 - March 31, 1992.

Now, if Bryant was just going to BNCOC in 2002, something must've gone terribly wrong. By that point, he should have had at least 14-16 years in the service. Perhaps he was going to ANCOC... It'd gotten to the point they started sending SSG's to ANCOC once they got a sequence number for promotion to E7, and they actually got to wear E7 (SFC), even though on paper they were still E6's (SSG). Problem was, if they failed ANCOC, they'd be wearing their E6 stripes again. But, I imagine it'd be hard to fail.

The Army's changed a lot since I left. I hear they were just giving away E-5 (SGT) to E-4 (P's) for re-enlisting for a certain number of years, and doing the same for E-5 (p's) promoting them to E-6 (SSG).

 

Yeah, LOL- I didn't want to say it- but uhh...

That had to be the only chick in the unit that no one ever hit on... Wowzaaaah....

OK- when you said you weren't enlisted anymore, I just assumed you'd gone to OCS.

You Extension PLT guys were on the other side of the Motor-pool, near the shoppette & fuel point- if memory serves. Kinda out of the way from us during the work day (unless we were in the motor pool doing PMCS or something).

Those of us in 1st, 2nd, & 3rd PLT got to know each other better; we worked together, we 91st, 2nd 7 3rd) all lived on the same floor too. But, Extension PLT was so big, they had to have a special place for you guys and HQ PLT.

Ahhh- OK- now I really remember SSG Sheppard (white guy), and the young girl he married. Yep, I knew SGT Sheppard well. He used to be in HQ PLT when I first got there. He was the Training NCO. He actually was my "trainer" when the first few of us were ID'd to be Hummer drivers. I still remember ol' Sarge bracing as I drove theh W-I-D-E Hummer down those narrow streets, with the fenders nearly rubbing both walls. I was like, "Relax Sarge- you're in good hands..."

I thought he was about to climb out the roof or something. He was an E-5 then though. I remember after a while he moved to Ext PLT.

Looking back, isn't it a trip how we had so many vehicles & trailers, and more than 700 people packed into that little space.

Using Google, I can find where Emery Barracks usd to be too, but I cannot find Fallenburg, or the Hospital. If I hadn't found the traffic circle, I'd never have found Hindenburg or Leighton.

 

I am pretty sure he was signal corps. And it is possible that he was going to ANCOC, I know he was a Ssgt and going for his promotion. Anyway, I am about 98% sure this is the same guy. I should look in my Army yearbook and see if I can post a picture of him. This guy was probably 6'5" - 6'7" big muscular dude, really funny guy too. Good sense of humor, but like I said he knew when to be serious. I still remember him almost perfectly to this day. Lemme see if I can dig up a picture...

 

Is this where you're seeing Emery Barracks? I think that was the one down the street and across the river from Hindenburg, right? I almost forgot about that one. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...&t=h&z=18&om=0


If I'm not mistaken, this is the old American hospital. Zoom out to see it's location in relattion to Leighton Barracks. I recall that gate over on the right as being the one I had guard duty at duringhte Gulf War.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...&t=h&z=18&om=0

 

Yep, that's it... Right down the way from Leighton Barracks. That's Emery too. My uncle, and a girl from my home town were both stationed at Emery. My uncle lived in Ansbach, and drove to Wurzburg everyday to work, he was a CW3, and Warrant Officers set their own rules, and take no smack fromanyone under a LTC.

Fallenberg should be there too, as the Hospital & Fallenberg were close together, and in relative short distance from Leighton.

Jenkins and I used to walk to Leighton from Hindenberg. Not often, as that was a pretty decent walk walk. I'd guess 4-5 miles. But we did on occasion. I only wento Fallenburg to pick up TA50, DX TA50, and turn in TA50, except for a 2-week detail I was put on, where we inventoried the TA50 at Fallenberg. We had to walk there 2-3 times over that 2-week period. Damn shame they wouldn't let us dispatch a vehicle to go there.

 

OH YEAH!....I forgot about that place where we picked up the TA50. Let me see if I can find it. I know it was off that traffic circle...if I remember right.

 

I thought that place we picked up the TA50 was right in this area:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...&t=h&z=17&om=0

But it's hard for me to tell by the aerial view. I remember driving over that way around the traffic circle. Maybe it's gone now and something else built in it's place or it's one of the sites you see in the link and I just can't ID it for sure.

Seem to recall a BMW dealer being there before you got to the base.