Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Comparing MREs with Russian Army Field Rations IRPs Индивидуальный рацион питания (ИРП)

After I returned from Iraq, I made a video comparing 1970s C-Rations with the current Meal Ready to Eat or MRE.  The video currently has about 75,000 views and  continues to get steady stream of comments.  Here it is:



Next month I am planning to make a new video of the current Russian Field Ration, the Individual Food Ration (IRP) or Индивидуальный рацион питания (ИРП).  Wikipedia has a site with field rations of many nations including Russia.




The Russian ration is a 24-hour emergency pack which is only for use when there are no field kitchens. The instructions say soldiers should not eat these rations for more than six days in a row.

I was planning show eat the IRP then compare them with the MRE.  I am open to suggestions about what you would like to see in the video.

Let me know in the comments, or on facebook or by email:  ngussman@yahoo.com





Saturday, April 9, 2016

OJ Simpson on a Russian Train: Book 9b of 2016, "The Kreutzer Sonata" by Leo Tolstoy


If OJ Simpson fled the scene of murdering his wife and her (possible) lover on a train instead of in a white Ford Bronco, then told the story to a fellow passenger, the story would be "The Kreutzer Sonata" by Leo Tolstoy.  The jealous Russian husband, like the football player, was acquitted of murder, but guilty beyond any reasonable doubt.

Whether the wife and the suspected lover were actually lovers is in doubt in both stories.  The murder weapon in both cases is a knife.  But in the Russian story, the lover gets away.  The jealous husband in the Russian story is not a former NFL running back, so he only stabs his wife.

The story opens with a half-dozen passengers discussing love and marriage in a compartment on a slow-moving train.  The argument, like so many arguments everywhere and through all of time, is based on misunderstanding the subject they are arguing about.  In this case, Love.  A very modern (in the 1890s) woman and her friend say marriage should only be based on Love, by which they mean Romantic Love--mutual attraction between the man and the woman.

An old man in the compartment asserts that marriage can only be based on a strong man controlling a weak woman and keeping her from following her natural inclination to sleep with every man in the village.  He says a marriage based on Romantic Love is doomed and that Love in marriage is "learned."  Tolstoy makes very clear the old man thinks it is perfectly fine for men to sleep with other women, just not the reverse.  When confronted about his double standard, the old man goes quiet.

Into this lively argument steps the Podnischeff, the recently acquitted murderer of his wife.  He asserts "with glowing eyes" that Romantic Love leads to tragedy, and says why he knows this.  Most of the other passengers, finding out they are riding on a slow train with a murderer, leave at the first opportunity, but the narrator sticks around to hear the story of the murder.

In the Podnischeff's story of the murder, Tolstoy makes clear the problems with basing a marriage on Romantic Love.  But Tolstoy also questions marriage itself.  However they get together, can two selfish people spend years and decades together and still love?  Tolstoy's own marriage answered that question with an emphatic No!

By the time he wrote this story, Tolstoy was 61 years old and becoming more of a radical both in his politics and his religion.

There is no military angle to this story, but it is clearly a story written by a soldier.  Love, death, passion and tragedy are intertwined in a way that I find in many authors I love who were soldiers.  




Thursday, April 7, 2016

Book 9a of 2016: "The Death of Ivan Ilych" by Leo Tolstoy


Why is a story about the life and death of a middle-aged, middle class, mid-career, mid-19th Century Russian bureaucrat on a 21st Century American Military Blog?  I'll tell you.

First, Leo Tolstoy was a soldier.  He served on the front lines in the brutal Crimean War near Sevastopol in some of the heaviest fighting.

Second, I am a soldier.  So I react to stories as a soldier.  And what I read is what at least one soldier reads.

Third, this time is my fifth reading of this wonderful story since I first read it in 1983.  It gave me a vivid picture of how suffering can be good and a haunting picture of what death can mean.

Soldiers face suffering and death as part of their job, but this story is not just an acknowledgement of that fact, it is a meditation on both.

Now to the story.

"The Death of Ivan Ilych" opens at Ivan's funeral.  In a scene only a career soldier or other government bureaucrat could appreciate, we first meet Ivan's best friend.  He is scheming about how to leave the funeral as quickly as possible and get to a card game.  At the card game, the discussion is about the vacancy left by Ivan's death.  Who gets Ivan's job?  And what of the vacancy left when someone moves into Ivan's position?

At the funeral Ivan's grieving widow begins wheedling and scheming to be sure she gets as many benefits as possible now that her husband is dead.

In the military, the best plan for advancement is to volunteer for leadership in the most dangerous jobs.  Lots of vacancies open up.  And the ambitious soldiers will speak quite matter-of-factly about who gets the next rung up the ladder of success when a vacancy opens.

After this tragic-comic opening of the story. We get a brief biography of Ivan.  He is ambitious, moderately successful, and strives to be correct in everything.  Just as he achieves a big promotion and prominent success, he falls ill and his life unravels.  In the final days of his suffering, he is cared for a selfless servant named Gerasim.  The care Gerasim gives him and the wrenching suffering push Ivan to question whether he lived as he should, and at the end, reject the life he lead.

Many fans of Tolstoy and scholars think "The Death of Ivan Ilych" is the best of Tolstoy's huge body of work.  I have read "Anna Karenina," "War and Peace," and many of Tolstoy's short stories and remain convinced that "The Death of Ivan Ilych" is his best work.

For those who know of my love for Dante's Divine Comedy, you know I can tell you the relative merits of each of the seven translations I have read.  The same is true of Bible translations.  Richmond Lattimore's New Testament is the best translation available in English.

Not so much with Ivan Ilych.  I like the translation I just read by Pevear and Volokhonsky, but I was not bothered by other translations.  So get a cheap copy on Amazon and read the best of a very great writer.




Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Russians Introduce New Tank, Armata T-14, While We Mothball Armor



Last year, the Russian Army showed the world a brand new tank at the parade celebrating the Russian victory in World War 2.

The new tank, the Armata T-14, represents a real advance in tank technology.  Russia plans to build more than 2,000 of these new tanks for its Army over the next five years.  

Designing and building new tanks means Russia plans to make tanks central to its battle plans in the future, differing sharply from U.S. and other western armies which are slowly removing armor from their war plans.

From 1976 to 1979 when I served as a tank commander in the U.S. Army in Europe, we trained to fight an overwhelming invasion by Soviet forces who vastly outnumbered us.  The war never happened, but we believed it would.  And we prepared for a desperate fight.  If you want to know what that war might have looked like, read Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy.

Our tanks were better, but they had a lot more tanks.  Almost everything we knew about our tanks and the Soviet tanks in battle we learned from reports of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War or Yom Kippur War.

One of those reports gave a breakdown of casualties by position in the tank:

  • Tank Commander 60%, mostly hideous face and neck wounds.
  • Gunner 20%, the gunner was the aiming point both sides used when they fired armor piercing rounds at enemy tanks.
  • Loader 15%
  • Driver 5%

Another way to break down those figures:  95% in the turret, 5% in the hull.

The T-14 has a fully remote-controlled turret and sighting system.  The three crewmen are in the hull of the tank.  Enemy tanks will, of course, aim for the hull, but it is easier to protect the hull than the turret.  Also, tanks seek places where they can hide the hull behind earth and walls and just expose the turret to fire.  These hull defilade positions as we called them will protect the crew while allowing the guns to fire.

The two main uses for tanks in modern warfare are to:

  1. Fight other tanks.
  2. Break though enemy lines and attack their supply lines.

By upgrading their tank force, the Russians are signaling they expect to be fighting an armored war, or they plan to use armor to punch a hole in enemy defenses and send an armored force to wreak havoc with supply lines.

Either way, they are expecting to fight in a place where they can transport large numbers of tanks easily.  That means along their own borders or in neighboring countries.  Sending tanks across oceans is slow and expensive, even for America.  The Russians clearly expect to fight in a place where trucks and trains can carry their tanks close to the battle.

In the next post, I will talk more about the specifications of the Armata T-14 and compare it to the U.S. Army's M-1 Abrams tank.



Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Great Story About How the Cold War Did Not Become a Hot War




The sub in the picture is a current Russian nuke boat.

In a story by Robert Krulwich on Nat Geo, we get the story of Russian nuclear submarines and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The story is here.

For those of us who served during the Cold War, the vivid thing in this story is the layers of restraint in the Soviet system.  During the Cold War, America faced a civilized enemy.  Our civilizations differed, but each side wanted to be the superior civilization.

Our current enemy, Islamic Terrorists, have no civilization and are the enemies of all civilization.

I very much miss having a uniformed enemy with a 1000-year-old culture.


Friday, March 25, 2016

At Home Dad: With Five Baby Mommas!!


On the Thursday before Easter in 2007, I called Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Askew, the recruiter for the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade, and started the process of re-enlisting in the Army.  That chapter of my life will end in just over a month.

Earlier this week, one of my Conservative friends asked me what I was going to do now that I was no longer working and was leaving the Army.  I told him I was going to be a stay-at-home Dad receiving a government check:  Social Security.

He quickly said I earned my government check from working and it's not like I had kids with five different women.

As soon as he said it I burst out, "Yes I do!!  My six kids have five Baby Mommas!"  In addition to my two biological daughters, I have a step daughter, an adopted daughter and two adopted sons. They are all legally my kids, but they all have different mothers.  My six kids really do have five Baby Mommas.

And that is my post-Army career.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Facebook After Terror Attacks, A Big Thumbs Up


In 2001, when Islamic terrorists attacked America, I was frantic for two days trying to get in touch with friends who worked in the area of the World Trade Center.  Some worked on Rector Street, less than two blocks from WTC.  Others worked near Wall Street less than a mile away.

None of my friends were hurt in the attacks, but for two days I had no way of knowing that.

Currently, I have friends in Brussels.  When I heard of the attacks on Brussels, I did not even try to make the futile phone calls I made on September 11, 2001, I got on Facebook.  Within an hour, the first of my friends updated her page to say that she and her entire family were fine and that she was going to her son's house to see her granddaughter.

In November, I did the same with the Paris attacks.  Although phone service was swamped with traffic, several friends updated their pages.  One of my friends was SCUBA diving in Turkey.  I remembered thinking when Cedric when to Turkey that the trip could be dangerous.  When I say his SCUBA update on November 15, I was thinking 'I'm glad he decided to leave Paris in November.'

Thanks Mark Zuckerberg.  I love your invention.

Monday, March 21, 2016

My Final Flight on an Army Helicopter




Returning to Flight Operations after the trip to Johnstown:  Sgt. Jay Rocourt, crew chief, 
and pilots Chief Warrant Officers Rich Wienches and Greg Gallerizzo.

In February I flew to Johnstown and back on a Blackhawk helicopter.  I thought at the time it would be my final flight, but I was not sure till this month.

It was a smooth, uneventful flight across Pennsylvania on a beautiful Winter day.


I had a great view of the entire mid state during the flights to Johnstown and back.







These photos show the crew performing post-flight maintenance, and refueling.

And this is the Crew Chief Jay Rocourt in Johnstown telling the Base Commander with complete sincerity that the pilots were performing post-flight maintenance when they were actually at the local Subway getting lunch.



Saturday, March 19, 2016

"I Solemnly Swear My Sleep Bag is Green"



This afternoon I finished turning in my Army field gear, all the stuff we use to carry ammo, equipment and food, as well as the our tent and sleeping bag.  More properly our sleeping bag system.

Of the more than 100 pieces of field gear the Army gave me since 2007, I turned it all in except two ammo pouches.  I had to pay for them.  Today I got a Turkey Hill money order for $41.26 to reimburse the Army for my missing ammo pouches.

My other discrepancy was my sleeping bag system consisting of five pieces: two sleeping bags, two carry bags and a cover.  I had all of the pieces, but they were green.  They have been green since 2007 when I received them.  They will continue to be green until they wear out.  But my clothing record says my sleeping bag system should be black.

Sooooooooooo.  That's a problem.

In fact, I had to write a statement swearing before two witnesses in the presence of an officer that my sleeping bag is green.

Which I did, "I Solemnly Swear My Sleep Bag is Green".

This form I filled in is a Department of the Army form 2823.  It is a sworn statement about anything.  Usually loss.  The supply clerk told me he helped to fill out a sworn statement for a soldier who lost the 'scope sight on his rifle.  That was serious.

During the 44 years I have been in and out of the Army, I have never filled out a sworn statement before.  I never lost a truck, or a tank, or a machine gun.

At this second-to-last drill weekend, I finally filled in a sworn statement to attest to the color of my sleeping bag.  It is green. I swear!

A proper end to a long career!

 

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Tasks, Conditions and Standards--How to Do Everything!



Tasks, Conditions and Standards is how we learn to do everything in the Army.  If you are assigned to be the machine gunner in a rifle squad, the first thing you will do is get to know your machine gun:  the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW).

Before you fire the SAW in combat, you will go through many different Tasks, Conditions and Standards blocks of instruction to learn the weapon, maintain the weapon, fire the weapon and fix the weapon.

Are you an Army cook and you need to fry eggs?  There are Tasks, Conditions and Standards for that. A scientist friend pointed that in the computer world this is algorithm thinking.  Break down every task into steps, clearly define the steps, evaluate.

A complex operation pulls together dozens and dozens of different Tasks, Conditions and Standards and turns that into one smooth operation.  The posts I did recently on Tank Gunnery represented hundreds of individual bits of training from how to zero each of the three weapons on the tank, how to drive with the hatches open and closed, how to determine range, how to maintain the tracks on the vehicle, etc.

When we pass the tests at the end of Tasks, Conditions and Standards, the Army says, "We got Skillz!"

Sunday, March 13, 2016

After Army--Back to Bicycle Racing



I never stopped riding when I joined the Army.  In fact, I rode 5,100 miles on Camp adder in Iraq and organized a bicycle race.

But I pretty much stopped being a bicycle racer.  From 2002 to 2007, when I re-enlisted, I rode 10,000 miles a year training to be just pretty good as a racer.  After my re-enlistment, not to mention breaking my neck in May of 2007,  I rode less.  And I did not ride with enough intensity to actually compete in races.  I still raced once in a while, but the peak of the racing season is May and June when I miss five weekends out of eight for Drill and Annual Training.

As I right this, I feel like a racer again.  Friday evening I renewed my racing license.  Yesterday, I rode south 50 miles with more than 5,500feet of climbing, then rode with my son for a few miles, then rode to my bike shop, Bikeline of Lancaster, to talk about a new bike.  My current race bikes date back to 2002 and 2003.  By May, I should be riding a new bike.

Today, it was supposed to rain beginning at 11 am.  So I had to ride in the morning.  I rode 35 miles giving me 100 miles for the weekend after 100km yesterday.

And this morning I signed up for the last Battenkill road race: 68 miles including several miles of dirt.  May 21.  I need more training.


Thursday, March 10, 2016

Official Word Today: I Am Done May 3, 2016


It's official.  My Army career ends on May 3 of this year.  I first enlisted January 31, 1972, and have finally hit my Army expiration date.

I have drill this month, next month and my last official event will be the Aviation Ball, April 30.

I will miss being a soldier, but it is time to move on to something else.


Wednesday, March 9, 2016

In Our Army, The Generals are Fat, The Sergeants are Thin

In the Spring of 1977, a group of Soviet General officers made an inspection tour of our base in Wiesbaden, West Germany.  In October 1976, the 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division relocated from Fort Carson, Colorado, to what was formerly an air base in Wiesbaden.

Our 4,000 mechanized troops were meant to be a show of force to the Soviet Union by America.  We were reinforcing NATO.  Within 48 hours after we landed, we were on the border in our fully loaded tanks at Fulda, where World War Three was supposed to begin.

The following spring, a group of Soviet Generals toured our base.  My unit, 1st Battalion, 70th Armor, stood in formation in front of our tanks for the inspection.  One Soviet General spoke to us after the inspection.  He said, in English, that "In our Army, the generals are fat and the sergeants are thin.  In your Army, the generals are thin and the sergeants are fat.  I wonder why that is?"

I don't remember much else about that day, except that the sun was out--not the norm in Wiesbaden.  But that one line said so much about our respective armies.

The Soviet General command draftees from his own country and other Warsaw Pact countries.  They were underpaid, badly treated, hungry and hoping just to survive their enlistment.  The American Army was in the fourth year of being a Volunteer Army, which means professional army.  The men who made a career of the Army were divided between those who loved the military and those who just wanted the early retirement--LIFERS, we used to call them.

Even in the 70s, that General saw enough overweight soldiers to make his comment.  I was reminded of this because I have seen several of the Generals in the Pennsylvania National Guard at events recently and they are thin, tough and walk fast.  I also saw a Master Sergeant who hasn't passed a physical fitness test in this century.  He looks like the General in command of the New Jersey National Guard.

Another reason I thought of that Soviet General was a news report on Sputnik (Russian State News) announcing that the 1st Guards Tank Army has been reformed to defend Mother Russia.

We still have thin generals and too many fat sergeants.  And the Russian Army is recruiting more of those skinny draftees for a huge new Mechanized Army.


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

No Promotions For Me! DISENROLLED!


Last week, I received the following email from the Army's Learning Management System:

Subject: You have been auto disenrolled from STRUCTURED SELF-DEVELOPMENT - LEVEL 1  (1-250-C49-1 (DL)_)_01/01/2013_crscl000000000018597

You have been automatically dis-enrolled from ALMS Course  for Course Iteration (STRUCTURED SELF-DEVELOPMENT - LEVEL 1  (1-250-C49-1 (DL)_)_01/01/2013_crscl000000000018597)
because the allowable time set by the Course Manager for completion has expired.
If you need to complete this training, you must register for it again. If this is an ATRRS/CHRTAS managed course you must register in that system. All others can be registered for in the ALMS. Credit for course training completed prior to this action will be awarded in accordance with the policies of the respective Course manager. All required training will be reflected in your In-Progress Learning upon successful registration.

With two months to go in my current enlistment and a very small chance I may get a one-year extension, I will not get promoted!

Actually, since making sergeant, I have not wanted to be promoted.  If I made Staff Sergeant, I would be filling a career slot.  Some guy one-third my age could be taking the next step on a career with that Staff Sergeant position.  I would just get another $20 per weekend.

So I accept being disenrolled.

Soldiers are government workers.  We get government-language emails.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Who Fights Our Wars? Command Sgt. Major Christopher Kepner



Command Sergeant Major Christopher Kepner, the top NCO of the 28th Infantry Division, is a big man with a big personality.  On any duty weekend, 28th ID soldiers can expect to see Kepner anywhere—on a range, in a dining facility kitchen, in a motor pool, or walking into an administrative section office.  He strides faster than everyone one around him.  It’s usual to see him striding down a hallway with a soldier breaking into a trot to keep up.  And just as usual to see this marathon runner with a Ranger Tab stop in mid stride to correct a deficiency or encourage a soldier doing a good job.

In 2010, soon after Kepner became the top in Command Sergeant Major in the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade he led an NCO Development course for all the sergeants in the brigade.  He began that course saying,
“You need to do only two things to be a leader in the United States Army. 
First, keep the men safe as much as possible.
Second, make sure your soldiers maintain standards in every area.
And how will you know if you are doing these two things?
You will eat lunch by yourself for the rest of your career.”

Kepner went on to tell the 28th CAB sergeants how maintaining standards saved the eyesight of one of his soldiers when he served as Command Sergeant Major of a Stryker Battalion in Iraq in 2008 and 2009.  As the young soldier was being loaded into a MEDEVAC he thanked Kepner for “staying in our shit about Eye-Pro[tection].”  Let’s hear a little more about how the Command Sergeant Major looks at his world:

I am a product of . . .
. . .the Army, more so than anything else. I owe the Army a lot.  I graduated high school when I was seventeen.  I was living at home.  I had a Gremlin.  I was a cook at the IHOP.  The only thing I cared about when I got out of high school was, whether I could make enough money to pay for the insurance on my Gremlin, and where was the next party. And, one day on the way home I thought, “Hell, I’ll join the Army.” I had no goals and I had no direction at seventeen.  So, I really, I really, I think, owe the military for who I am and where I am at today for instilling that discipline.
 
Relaxation is . . . .
. . .Sitting on my deck, looking out over the mountains, sipping a Tullamore Dew (12-year-old Irish whiskey, ed.), and smoking a good cigar.
 
There’s value in . . .
. . .taking stock in your life and understanding where you’re at and using that to determine where you want to be. 

You can have the best idea . . .
. . .But, it doesn’t mean squat if you can’t, execute it. The same way with ideas.  There are big-idea guys that couldn’t lead a squad across the street.

My home is. . .
. . .my sanctuary.  It’s very isolated.  I have fourteen acres at the bottom of a mountain. I can be or do whoever I want to be there and the outside world is very secluded from that, and I need that. 

There’s drama . . .
Everywhere! Oh, lord!  There is drama everywhere. Everywhere you have people who interact you have drama.  So, we all have to learn how to live within it and work within it. To accomplish your goals, you’ve got to be able to manage drama. If you say, “I hate drama,” and ignore drama then you’re, you’re not going to be able to do anything.  If somebody says to me, “Oh, I can’t stand the drama.”  I say, suck it up and do what you need to.

War is. . .
Here’s what I will say about war.  I believe that as Army volunteers, we have given up our right to decide which wars are correct and which wars are incorrect. So, so for me to say, make a statement like, “War is,” does not lead to “This war is right,” or “This war is wrong.”  As volunteer members of the service we don’t have that right.  We’ve given that up that right. So, so that being said I would say that war is necessary but it is certainly also horrible. 

Do you get “whiplash” switching from military to civilian life?
The short answer is No. I’ve been in the military since I was seventeen.  Came on active duty when I was seventeen.  Spent the first seven years of my adult life on active duty so I was certainly influenced by military people, growing up in that environment.  That carried over into my civilian job as an operations manger for Schnieder Trucking.  So, I would say I do not have whiplash but I do have to step it down a little bit for the civilians.

But civilian or military, I am I’m pretty much always that focused and intense, and I’m up front with my direct reports at work. Not too much gray area there. As a matter of fact, I had to have a conversation, a performance conversation the other, the other day with one of my direct reports and the conversation was, “You’re not getting it done.  We’re not achieving excellence.  And, because we’re not achieving excellence your work, your work-from-home one day a week has just been revoked.”  So, No. I don’t have a great change. 

How do soldiers see you. . .
When we deployed, I was on patrol walking with one of the platoons.  During the patrol, the Platoon Sergeant said, “You know, Sergeant Major, my soldiers call you The Velociraptor.”  They think I just swoop in from the sky to jump in their . . . [correct them].
“They dare each other to walk past you with some kind of uniform or standards violation,” he said, “and they all talk [deleted] about it, who will really do it.” 
And, I think that sums up the way people see me.




Saturday, February 27, 2016

Tell Me About Your Favorite Top Sergeant


Command Sergeant's Major Christopher Kepner may not look like a funny guy, but here is my favorite quote from him:

Soon after Kepner became the top in Command Sergeant Major in the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade he led an NCO Development course for all the sergeants in the brigade.  He began that course saying,
“You need to do only two things to be a leader in the United States Army. 
First, keep the men safe as much as possible.
Second, make sure your soldiers maintain standards in every area.
And how will you know if you are doing these two things?

You will eat lunch by yourself for the rest of your career.”

First Sergeants and Sergeant's Majors keep their units in fighting shape and up to standards so the officers can decide when and how they will fight.  

When my Army career ends, I want to write a book about Top Sergeants in the Army.  Let me know about your favorite--or least favorite--top sergeant in any branch of the service.  I am also interested in top sergeants in books and movies.  

Thanks for your help.  Leave a comment or write me at ngussman@yahoo.com  


Monday, February 22, 2016

Not Looking Good for Another Year in the Army


This weekend, I found out my application for another year in the Army has not yet been approved at the state level.  And after that, it would have to approved by National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon.

I can't say for sure, but if I were betting, I would bet against me getting the extension.

Yesterday, I turned in a lot of my field gear and went on what may have been my last flight in an Army helicopter.

The field gear that remains for me to turn in during March drill weekend has my name on it and the name has to be cleaned off.  Of course, when I was issued this field gear, my unit said write your name on it.  So I did.  Now I have to erase it or I will have to pay for it.

That's the Army!!


Thursday, February 18, 2016

Americans in West Germany During the Cold War: Don't Piss Off the Polezei!


During the height of the Cold War in the 70s and 80s, West Germany had a higher population of American citizens than ten states.  One million Americans including 250,000 soldiers and airmen and their families, lived in West Germany.  The 1970 census says more Americans were living in West Germany than in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, both Dakotas, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. 

Most of those Americans lived in “Little America” military communities, shopped on Base/Post and never learned German.  Sometimes, they were rudely introduced to differences in German culture.

In 1977, I drove from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt Airport to pickup the wife and child of one of my soldiers.  The post-draft Army recruited very different soldiers from when I enlisted in 1972.  During the draft, although mostly Southern, I met people from the entire country. By 1977, that was over.  Every new soldier on my tank crew or in my platoon was from the South or the West. 

When I went through basic training in 1972, no one in my platoon was married.  By 1978, when we got a replacement, I would expect he was 19 years old, married, had one child and his 17-year-old wife was pregnant with their second child.  The pregnant wife was the reason he enlisted.  That and the mill or factory or garage or warehouse where he worked closed or laid workers off. 

The woman I met at the airport on that hot July day was older than average, but so was my soldier.  He was 21.  She was 20.  She was pregnant and had a two-year-old son who was quiet like his Dad.  Mom was not happy.  And she was not quiet.  The flight was long.  The day was hot.  I had a 1969 VW Beetle.  It was not air-conditioned.  While we walked through the terminal, I listened to how difficult the trip was for her.  She told me how unfair it was that there was no base housing for her PFC husband.  She asked if I could get them on-base housing. 

I could not help with that problem.

We left the airport on the A3 Autobahn.  While my aging Beetle was moving, the car was not terribly hot.  The breeze from every car on the road passing us at about twice our speed helped with cooling. We turned onto A66 toward Wiesbaden.  Two miles later, everyone stopped.  We had no idea what was going on, but we were in a VW Beetle at Noon in July sitting still on the Autobahn.  I shut the air-cooled engine off until we actually moved. 

An hour later we arrived at a Polezei check point.  The Baader Meinhof gang was active at that time and the German Police were searching cars.  The melting Mom beside me was angry at the US Government, the Army, Germany, NATO and most of the world for her current sweat-soaked state. 

One of the policemen approached my window and asked for identification and about the purpose of our trip.  My passenger said “What the Hell do they need ID for.  We’re Americans. . .”  Then she stopped in mid sentence.  I looked to my right and another Polezei officer had come to her window, leveled his automatic weapon at my passenger, and said, “Identification!”
 
She complied.  More importantly, she shut up.

After we were out of sight on the roadblock and on our way to Wiesbaden, I reminded my passenger we were in another country and subject to their laws.  And that she should do whatever Polezei said.  She nodded.  We were quiet for the rest of the trip. 

Apparently, looking down the barrel of an MP5K submachine gun that the Polezei officer was carrying can bring a whole bunch of cultural awareness to an American on her first trip overseas. 


Not So Supreme: A Conference about the Constitution, the Courts and Justice

Hannah Arendt At the end of the first week in March, I went to a conference at Bard College titled: Between Power and Authority: Arendt on t...