European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 14, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Who if observe obit Patlon Pott nmn Mimin the dial once Airowti Border o watch Tower of if German it Tennessee. Continued from Page 13 lose it. To get the Heck that s Why we keep that armoured personnel Carrier warmed up outside. There s that big old Mel Ningen Gap out there and Tennessee looks Down its that s Bio trouble. In Case of Small trouble a fast reaction team of soldiers is always ready to Rush for Ward trom Camp Lee a company size Post a few Miles Back. From the tiny Glass enclosed observation room atop Tennessee the sergeant alms a Finger Between two Hill crests. He says there s a communist Lank Range in there and sometimes at night his squad can see red tracers ripping up the dark. He s asked what would happen if he glanced up some Gray morning and saw Waves upon Waves of enemy tanks thundering Down the Gap. It probably won t happen. But f guess people Are always saying that before things happen and Wake up a Little surprised. This is the tip of the Spear and you know they be got to wipe this of off the map right off the Bat. If they miss Well carry our sensitive equipment out of Here with us ii we have time. It not Well blow it up what is Gung to doing in such a place because i eel Ilka i m doing something Good he replies. Sometimes in the army you find yourself wasting time. Nothing s wasted up he is staff sgt. Edward radar of co a 2nd so 11th army Cav regt. If a attacks his work with almost recruiting poster eagerness a says it s be cause. You took into East Germany a few Hundred meters away and realize that s for real Over there. Real bad. It s Why we re playing this Ball game. This is 24-hour duty and some of us would Volunteer to stay up Here until our unit rotated units periodically rotate Forward for 30 Days of Oul tront Border duty. When the re not communist watching they live below in a Concrete Box of a build ing about 20 feet Square with reinforced steel in a room nearly Bare except for Lour Fole Decker bunks and a cot. They be got running water and toilets but no Shower and no place to eat except wherever they happen to be. Entertainment is writing letters discussing the Fate of the world watching video tapes listening to music. Sitting in cramped Utility room away from the others the Oklahoma kid listens to Waylon Jennings sing wrenching by of hard times and broken hearts. I did t want to bother anybody else sighs Mike Bush a Blond slow talking 19-year-old private first class from Eucha. Okla., which is a town of about so people most o them my Kinfolk Way Back in the could the kid be a Little homesick Roger that. I got a steady flow of homesickness. It does t come in surges. It just stays Hung in there All the it s his wife he says shaking his head. He misses her. And he s worried. She s a Little bit too pregnant to come Over right now. She s been having All these complications but i think. I m hoping. She s Gonna be of. Aside from that though i like it up Here. And i like Siks photo by Tracy Baker this army pretty Good too. The army has treated me nicer than anybody has Ever treated me in my life. Even the army Drill sergeants Are Nice. I mean my daddy was a Marine Drill sergeant for 15 the really interesting entertainment for the men of of Tennessee is topside. The excitement is their work. Using Thermal Tow sights ground surveillance radar and binoculars they constantly watch and re port on everything that moves across the Border. Armed russian helicopters flying by. East Ger Man troops on tha move. The busing of people into the nearly deserted East German Village of Wennberg by Day and out again at night. The most frequented Village House being the one where there always seem to be girls hanging out on the Balcony. The numbed out looking Border guard who went Roar ing by on a motorcycle Yelling Yankee go Homel. The fat guard apparently on a weight program puffing Back and Forth on a Green bicycle. The truck Driver who suddenly veered off a control Road sped out into a Field and kept going round and round like he d gone Soma la Avan communist watching gats funny they say and sometimes not so funny. Like when Border commandos sneak across the line to Snoop around and lest american alertness. Or when yet another East German braving gunshots and searchlights Breaks out to the West. And then there s always the threat of Waves upon Waves of enemy tanks thundering Down the Gap. I look Over there through the fog sometimes and it s so eerie i feel like i m watching a scary movie says pvt. Gary Lumpy Lumsden. Then i remember Man i m in that last year Lumpy 18, was a High school student worrying about his Sunlan in California this year he s a hard drinking Soldier. Coffee s the drink. Some of them Are gulping about 15 or 20 cups a Day. He says As they serve As the eyes to East Germany. We be become Coffee fiends explains Lumpy because you gotta be so Alert. You can really get burned if you get something wrong like reporting the russians Are coming Whan they Arent Bui. Boy if you miss something up Here you be missed some thing. You know like Peart Harbor and general Cus Ter. Somebody must be missed Well we Don t miss much drinking this army col fee says pfc. Mike Rennaker. Lifting a cup. This army Coffee makes you see the night before Rennaker saw a wild boar out there that looked big As a pregnant cow or at least a How hard it it Lor tha told Leri of of Tennessee working Long often stressful hours in such tight quart ers to stay Cool to get along you get tight with the other Guys really tight says radar in a positive Way. Get two or Man people together and you be usually got a Power a struggle. Up Here we Don t have time for the Power garbage. The Job s too who wants to be in any rear says Rennaker laughing. This is the place to be. I be been up Here eight Days without a Shower just taking Birdbaths. An Birdbath and a dab of after shave and i m ready Toi go another 12 14 the stars and stripes
