European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 27, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                August 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 is training patrol gains insights into its own Mission by Tony Nauroth Nuernberg Bureau c Germany stinkin1 Basic Border duty is the Way soldiers describe the 30to 45day Tours of service along the its Tough duty dirty and they somebody has to do the somebody responsible for the Border from co Burg to the Junction of the West czech Oslo and austrian Borders at Passau is the 2nd army Cav headquartered at Merrell Barracks in two of their six Border Camps along this Northern bavarian Frontier Are manned by other units the 1st army dive 1st 1st Cav in Weiden East of the Grafe Woehr training and the 3rd inf dive 3rd 7th Cav in tucked under the part of East Germany that juts into Southeastern West other requirements the cavalry soldiers cant always fulfil their Obliga like other they have other such As remaining proficient in weapons qualification and tank gunnery and taking part in Field during these somebody else has to pull Border usually a cavalry troop or infantry company that normally would not be scheduled at the Border last fall Chip commander of the 502nd military intelligence in assigned to the 2nd army Cav regt provisional come and control volunteered his men for the duty to help relieve these at the end of they will be wrapping up their third Border Mcconville and his men say they have brought a different perspective to the and have gained valuable Basic soldiering and leadership skills they dont usually most of the soldiers have mixed feelings about Bor Der staff Jerry Gartin Doest like the fact that the Border Mission takes precedence Over his Job in the technical control and analysis Section Intelli gence but he recognizes that Border duty is an excellent training staff Lance an electronic warfare Pla Toon said youd rather do anything you train a year and a half for Over something like this patrolling the its like becoming a doctor and then being assigned to sweep Carlson says he int belittling cavalry its simply a question of doing what youre trained to and taking Pride in and doing those other things simply because youre told to do you can complain about he but theres really nothing you can do about he said his soldiers need More Field training and Basic soldiering in that he Calls this arrangement a great patrol Leader staff Howard Biddle was with his squad in the Camp Harris briefing room in a classified map had a Canvas Shade Over Biddle was talking about the seven hour patrol they had just i was just five feet away from a he Gak is the acronym for the East German Border reconnaissance troops who Are the Only ones trusted enough to patrol outside the East German he photo by Tony Nauroth on return from Border duty Are from left staff Howard staff Alfred 4 Michael and 4 Bradley Semelroth of the 502nd military intelligence was Only about 15 or kept wondering what he was the intelligence soldiers talk about such things with Awe filled most of this is still new to the cavalry veterans tend to shrug it As one Soldier put the Fence Doest even bother me Biddle said he would rather be working his regular Job than doing Border but he its How geography shifts your Border duty helps us to see How things fit into what we already know said 4 Brad Ley an they describe the Basic difference Between the Way a Cavalryman and an intelligence Soldier patrols the Border this Way the cavalry sees better the Intelli gence specialist interprets More deeply what he does Galloway said the 502nd now understands better How the dynamics of the Border fit in with their Intelli gence and Mcconville pointed out that there has been an increased understanding Between the cavalry and intelligence first Tim Cunningham is the Camp Harris duty he runs the he said that the idea of the 502nd pulling Border duty was Long we were living at Merrell and expected to know the he you cant do that without being a Good example of this occurred during a june Border Mcconville was the regimental intelligence officer when a report came in that 70 czech soldiers led by a major crossed the Here i was in regimental Headquarters in Nuernberg trying to figure out Why 70 czechs were suddenly in West Germany he a regimental spokesman later explained that Ger Man Border officials convinced the majors soldiers to return to but the major insisted they were operating in their own he refused to the incident ended when West German officials escorted the disoriented officer to a Legal crossing Point where they turned him Over to czech the spokesman As a result of that Mcconville wryly i like boredom on the a Long scar of Fence lines and observation towers runs the length of a huge Valley North of in a tent on a one of car sons troops says he saw an East German military that requires a in the Correct Carlson tossed a Small manual to the Soldier and told him to make the a cavalry Soldier Proba Bly  need the were a Little Rusty on the Carlson sometimes the Only answer is no answer by Tony Nauroth Nuernberg Bureau Germany staff Lance Carlson stood on a Mountaintop overlooking the East German he was struggling to explain his Mission As an electronic warfare platoon sergeant actually explaining his mis our he is he stopped and turned to his platoon were getting into it this it he talked or didst talk is the murky swamp of mum inhabited by military intelligence sol mums the word in this and that can wreak havoc on any Story a reporter tries to shake out of military intelligence no one understands what we do because we cant Tell sometimes its frustrating when you have to be americans Are used to an open info mation Chris Berg Berg works for Carlson As a russian Lin its frustrating when you have to Tell i cant Tell it sometimes puts a Damper on your social we cant even talk to our wives about Carlson but that Good in a because then we have to find More 4 Michael Lackey said he goes out of his Way not to make his Job sound suspicious when making it helps break the when you say military they think youre working for Cid the army criminal investigation division and there being investigated for we dont have any ties to those were definitely not said staff Alfred using a term popularly used to identify but no one understands what we do because we cant Tell sometimes its frustrating when you have to be Eva Galloway said he often avoids the problem by Ive lied i Tell people in a 71l a some have resorted to lying in More official first Ray Long was acting com Mand sergeant major of the 2nd army Cav regts provisional command and control the 502nds next higher every time i told them i wanted to inspect their they its Long this went on for six putting one Over on the top sergeant always makes a Good Story any Soldier can Long is no he suggested that no newcomers try Ive he even intelligence experts often have a hard time keeping their Best secrets under