European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 14, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes May photos by Chuck Vinch coordinating troop locations on the map Are Daniel Fitzgerald left and 1st John searching for enemy marines is 4 Derek Moss toc knows troops7 locations usually by Chuck Vinch Munich Bureau chief Capo Sardinia about marines had stormed ashore in the and the paratroopers of the 4th 325th airborne inf regt from outnumbered 10 to Are trying to hold their defensive in the battalions tactical operations known As the located on a Rocky Hillside above the the radio crackles constantly As reports from the Field come the toc Crew plots new locations of the units elements and sends out a steady Stream of despite the activity and the fact that hundreds of troops were running around out trying to shoot each the atmosphere of the toc  have been that the Way it has to if the people in the toc lose the Battles As Good As we Are the information Center for the says 1st Keith the battalions intelligence the information on whats happening goes around through in our intelligence and our s3 operations we piece together the situation and coordinate All our Battle plans out of Here is a Gama Goat with a tent covered with camouflage inside Are maps and two a its not but for the duration of the its Home for these the a nato exercise named Distant Ham Calls for very precise phase lines and a which Means that the paratroopers Are supposed to fall Back to Point b by a certain time while the marines Are to take Over Point a at a certain since the marines stormed ashore several hours be they have been making the most of their numerical there actually doing things they  be doing according to the rules of the says Daniel acting operations but what Are rules in combat or even in simulated com Bat the toc personnel have been having problems plot Ting where their troops Are because of spotty location reports from the theres general disagreement Over the location of one and much map checking Fitzgerald says its difficult to do everything by pm theres a Hundred things that can affect them he of your people dont always Call in the old you could just Send out the cavalry on horseback to see where everyone was and then report Back to too bad we can t do that a Call comes in from one and the voice says that the battalions combat engineers Are firing on please Tell them to the voice it turns out that the engineers Are firing on a group of and the engineers Are in the line of first John Manning the gets on and sorts out the Fitzgerald is still fretting Over where All his people this is not what you would Call a free play says Jerry we should know where every one is at All then Why cant we find anyone Fitzgerald you remember How it was when when you used to be out there in the Watson you knew where you were and that was All that in going to Start walking artillery All Over them until they Tell me where they Fitzgerald break out the tactical Geiger that wheres the Button says taking the Ive had enough of i Haven even had breakfast lets nuke pm we could always claim delayed stress a report comes in about a nearby armoured Battle Between the italians participating in the exercise and the which sends everyone Rushing outside for a but the Battle is just out of fully of the Odds against his Par the marines have us poor now we can attack with impunity in any direct a group of marines appears on a nearby the troops in the toc communications which is responsible for maintaining the toc grab their weapons and run up the Hill for a better the marines spot them and pop off a few give yourselves you Haven got a yells staff Raymond he can afford to taunt the marines the toc is also acting As the exercise control and As such is More or less of limits As a while the situation at the toc has remained relatively Cowkey most of the the toc personnel say its not always that we get on each others nerves working so close together for so says things dont always run this says Dave the Captain gives us five Bucks each to smile whenever we have visitors to the when things Are going of were usually pretty Loose in the but when things get we get awful and the Battle rages James Fowler carries a radio while Clark Campbell Calls in a situation staff Raymond Krahmer right helps in camouflaging the