European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 16, 1980 the stars and stripes Page 9  photo Tor Gus so pfc. Waller Snook blinking As the camera Shuller Clicks drives the first tank out of a warehouse Al Spinglli Barracks Mannheim Germany during a forger 86. Tanks Drivers ready to Roll out for reformer by Don Tate staff writer Mannheim Germany pfc. Snook seemed con ten 1. Arc you half As Content is you leak. Snook he Shook his , yes sir.  at first glance. Snook hardly looked alive. Through Itic half Light in the smoke and growl and grinding of great machines his head seemed almost disembodied in the Olive drub As it it had been lopped off and left on a tank. Then the had on a tank s Pale Boyish face split into a Grin the fact was said pfc. Walter Snook after Many monotonous hours of flying from one continent to another and Lite dreary hours of hurrying and stopping and waiting and hurrying ital is military mass movement his head had arrived at precisely the spot it fell most alive nestled inches above the Boxly of his tank. Snook 20, a tank Driver with the i sign 63rd Armor. Is brigade 1st inf div out of fort Riley Kan wheeled he first Lank out of a huge warehouse Al Spinglli bar Racks and led the Parade through the drizzly night to a fuel Point where his big gunned big bellied m-60ai track drank in nearly j75 Gallons of diced fuel. Behind Snook came a clanking roaring symphony of hulks trucks jeeps and armoured personnel carriers. It was the heart of reformer return of forces to Ger Many getting Here drawing equipment and moving out with  of he 38,000-Squarc-fool warehouse alone poured 4h Tunks and 31 other vehicles. The column was bound for a marshalling area in the Woods a few Miles away soon it would Roll eastward across Germany by rail and Road Convoy to a tactical Assembly area before jumping off into the Field exercise certain Sentinel �h6. For Snook in the army Only six months and on his first big exercise it was pretty amazing and he could t Wail to gel on with it. Before going Onward however. Snook and his com rades arriving with Little More than personal gear and the clothes an their backs had to pause Al Mannheim. Most of Fth rest of what they needed to fight with was in the rows of big Green warehouses stuffed with every certain Sentinel thing from tanks to lire tools. This is it for us maj. Kenneth Johnson commander of the 1st combat equipment co said As he glanced around at tank Drivers and mechanics checking their machines to see if they were ready to rumble. The culmination of our year Johnson s company is responsible for storing the equipment and having in ready to Roll for a forger or fur War. The Spinglli warehouses make up just oae of 17 such Sites in Europe. Known As ppm us pc Posigian ing of Materiel configured to unit set she Sites would be critical in Case of War As the storehouses Hal would Supply rapidly deploying nato reinforcements. In nato s 10-plus-Io concept Johnson said. There Are four divisions permanently Here and six More on the Way in Case of trouble. All of them would be combat equipped and Reudy to fight in 10 Days. The six divisions coming in would be almost totally supplied at Pom us Sites like this  on this Rainy night at Spinglli Johnson and his men worked All night to get both an armoured and an infantry battalion on their Way. Drivers mechanics and other key personnel from the 1st inf battalions called draw teams hooked up batteries filled up fuel tanks and Pul their machines through safely checks before heading out to Ilic marshalling area to link up will the main body of their i coops our peacetime average of eight to 12 hours to equip n battalion could be trimmed to three or four hours in  Johnson said. We could Cut through a lot of the controls and property accountability and checks 34 safely checks for a truck and 36 for a tank everything from looking for leaks to Windshield wipers working to panic Brake Stop Cheeks. But in an emergency we Coul Dang this stuff right out of  the key 1st sol. Jack Ferguson said is How Good the equipment is maintained in the warehouses. And this equipment is in really Good shape. These warehouses arc humidity controlled 50 per cent humidity to keep the rubber from rolling und Metal from rusting. Over Yihong is kept inside except for the trailers. Everything is Quality controlled at year. In peacetime safety is inc main emphasis. The big Gisl Hazard i Sec is that we be got lir cd soldiers who have been up 24 to 36 hours coming in and driving Oul tanks in bad weather and maybe crunching somebody. Noth ing like that s happened Here Hank god. It s going really  when the exercises Are Over the equipment will be fixed up cleaned up and Pul Back in the barn to sleep for awhile Ferguson said. Spi Willi Barracks sit prepared waiting far their turn to Mote out. At right pfc. Snook Maneu vers a tank from the Harchous into the night