European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Snow brings Challenge struggle by Don Tate staff writer with the big red one Ger Many he battalion s Field Kitchen Nadol caught up with them. That meant no hoi meals. And water was rationed to a half canteen per troop. All the discomforts of any army on Trie move but nobody in kid Ley s platoon was belly Ching. Grinding tip through these Slippery Hills along twisting Wood lined toads in night convoys was t easy for men or supplies. Hours and hours or machines slipping and sliding and breaking Dawn and getting stuck and unstuck but gelling there. An army on the move. Chaotic in places said one officer like it would be in  troops were gathering in tactical As Sembly areas in the Forest preparing to attack Westward til rough the bavarian Hills. Convoy Tut moved at eight Miles per hour under squadrons of Clouds that brought alternating Light rain heavy sleet Snow sudden Bright Sunshine that broke open the sky and turned ii Blue followed just As suddenly by blowing snowstorms. Even germans Shook their Heads and called the weather hanging Over exercise certain Sentinel  in one Long icy stretch Laic Friday along autobahn 9, a main artery into the Man Euver Box eight military convoys and Many civilian vehicles had jammed up. In the in idol of Sal three trucks Tram East Germany. By sunday warm Rains had turned some stretches of the Man Euver area to mud. First it. Rick Riddly n platoon Lender with use big red one said neither the monday january 20, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 Sis timid by Gui sttiuiuiir115 5t two sentries a k die perimeter of snowed in d co., sch in 16lh inf  trip Dir 1st inf i near  in nun. Struggle of getting Here nor the  weather was Imp big tical. Challenge struggle hardship that s whal the infantry s All about. We did t gel into this outfit for the amenities the niceties. Boredom is the enemy. If the exercise can t go Forward we be got to find ways to keep these Guya from getting  you be Gal to keep i he adrenaline going in these Young troops chipped in Sec. Tom Byrne the platoon scr can. You can t let them stagnate Pui the pressure on them. They like  Riddly from hoi Springs ark., said i m no Lover of cold weather. I own like to sleep in any Snow. Bui it comes with i he Job. It s just a. Question of mind Over Mai Ler. Vou iry to instill thai in your troops. Mind Over Mailer. That they can stand anything. And they jus about  certain Sentinel troops Hope Tor colder less soggy weather Steinwald Forest Germany squinting through a snowstorm the commander of the Delta dogs grinned and looked up to the sky gods. He said he was praying for much Mere miserable weather than thu. Around him in these railing heavily for ested Ilone Woods � few Miles from the czech Border a foot or More of Snow Hod already been dumped on his troops. Their Little Pup tents Scall ered through the while Trees sagged with the stuff. Snow Cumo whipping in sideways and frosted their Eye brows glazed aver their glasses. Though observers called his the coldest part of Germany the Siberia of Bavaria still was t cold enough. Officers said thai the Snow might be Only insulating the soggy ground beneath it. What was needed were Sard hard freezes. Earlier Rains and mild weather had turned operation certain sen Tine into operation Uncertain weather. Operation soggy some soldiers called it. Men like capt. James Rose Leader of Delta company waited for word Aslo whether the massive mechanized stack the Orange was preparing to launch against lie Blue forces monday was on track. Then knew if it was judged thai tanks and other heavy equipment would no up the German Oil in the Man Euver to he Bike exercise would Likely be i a downward into some kind of command and control exercise for unit leaders. Overseen of the Maneu vers were Stres Singh at most important phase of the , the massive forger return of forces � we already Denmer Trachte physically and symbolically. The soldiers had tended some 20,000 of joining another 5p, e missed by thet Viels. On the iffy eve of certain Sentinel however Down in the Snow grunts like the Delta dogs growled for action beyond logistics. Like other fired up units Rose said i dogs were primed 10 go kick some Blue  la a pc reformer exercise in the states the 27-year-old Captain said Delta had gone dismounted got off our tracks at Midnight and captured the opposing Force s battalion toc tactical operations Center with the battalion commander in it. That s the kind of neat stuff we want to do  Delta company is port of the 5th in. 16th inf 1st brigade. I is inf div the big red one out of fort Riley Kan. The 5th, with n proud fighting history in Europe in world wars i and ii is commanded by it. Col. Roy Lynch. Lynch had deployed his 734 soldiers in key positions All Over the Woods. Delta company s 105 men tramped Back and Forth in the Snow huddled to Steep warm around armoured personnel carriers and trudged out through wet blowing flakes to guard their perimeter. Most knew thai if they wandered too far out into that blinding Mist heading East they would run hard up against a communist land eat cd Czechoslovakia. But not everyone. We re right near the Atlantic Ocean Ain t we asked a 19-year old red nosed private on his first trip away from the United Stales. If i was you somebody suggested i would go gel a briefing on est rely where you arc  meanwhile Rose and other soldiers watched the sky and prayed for miserably cold Wea ther. Don Tate in \ Toffi of is in. A it Oslo by gut a a line spec. 4 Scott Anderson clears his Tell of about a foot of Snow in the Steinwald Region nicknamed he bavarian