European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 22, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Profile Kurt Schueler wishes it was a Little tougher by Don Tate staff writer the of Joiy bumping along in Lite trunk Tift Tif Ali Busti. Bay ,1 German la climb into the front be while they grabbed some fan thut Fye. Fri rare they Cmil grab much there came a knocking on the window. The boy opened Hia eyes. He saw a big Soldier in inv Fork storing in. The nun in american White Krecl to the boy to keep his eyes closed. The Bay was getting another lesson in How to survive in desperate times. He Beard the Man telling How Lite Bay was his son and then swerving the discussion to the attractiveness of he red Star on the russian s uni turn. Casland West connected and the russian minus one red Star tit god them on their Way warning never Ever Slop on a Road in East Germany at night. Minutes later the boy practically leaped Back into the trunk of the Buick and did t poke his heart out until they had craned the Border inn Wail Germany. was 1951 in a ruined land crawling with russians. The Man was t his father and Kurt Schueler did t have and could t gel a Permil to leave Berlin. If Mil russian had checked real Dost to would probably have ended up in Siberia or worse says Schueler. Count the ways Schueler could have1 ended up and most of them my Darker than night he was smuggler out of East Germany. He remembers his real father a German Soldier being killed on i he russian front. He remembers the dogfights in Hie sky running it t bomb shelters the american plane that crushed near his House the smashed Countryside How the War buffeted urn from place to place remembers the americans coming the americans leaving the russians coming not leaving. Today he is command sol. Major so Juzeler of i he 19lh support Center Al Wiesbaden Germany just awarded the legion of Merit fur exceptionally meritorious service and ready to retire after 18 years in combat arms and 12 in Supply. But in those Days he was t in command of anything including enough to vat. He remembers the time just Afler the War when he caught with his hand in the cooking pot by a russian occupying his House. La " Little Kurt confessed i m he had t dared go for the meal just the peas the peas in butter pure butter i can see them to this Day those wonderful he remembers ills Way his belly fell when you re thai kind of hungry he says deep growling alive gut hunger you Don t forget. He does t forget his Mother Selling off their furniture for bread. He does t forget Berlin at the end of the War and hell never forget thai american info try sergeant who would become his Stepfather ferreting him to Freedom in the old Sis guzzling Buick to join his Mother already in Wes Germany. Desperate times. Kurt would Benime ,111 army brat for the second Lime that time with . Sumpod on him. In i95&, Mill learning the language he joined that army and liter went with it to Vietnam i could hardly rn.ikt1 my Leys Jimb on Hie air plane i was so afraid. I knew i was t Toming Bank. I knew i was going to he says in Hie Liny in Ewsii in Germany where he was Horn the people were vory superstitious. The Bedel was .1 Liny with the same first name As his father a is doomed to die in the Wiy of the father. Kurt believed that in his Bones. And one miserable steamy Day climbing out of a Sampan in the Mekong Kurt Schueler of seen dts staff Ermei and Good limes line Fie made his Way to the West. , taking 17rourid that smashed the Bone in his left High lying there in agony for hours without morphine there was no reason for him not to believe it. This time in was Viet Cong crawling around him his own people carried him in a fishnet bum Pety bum Pety through Tow Jungle and across Rice pact Dies while circling american gunships blew away superstition before behind and around them. Desperate times. But Kurt Schueler made it. Now another old Soldier is fading off. But not without a few parting shots. Kurt Schueler could never be called anybody s Little Rah Rah tin Roopie mindlessly going around saying everything is great and getting better. Too much Salt in the old Soldier for that. He smiles when he says he wishes today s army was a Little tougher and More disciplined but he Means it he chuckles when he highly recommends education All a Soldier can gel says it is Beautiful but not always a Blessing. Some of the Guys but but but you to distraction. But Sarge but Sarge bul Sarge in War he says one bul could be the last. He says he has seen women who make Good Tough soldiers and then he shakes his head Over other women who seem to carry about 80 or 90 pounds of personal gear to the Field a whale paint store so that there s no room for their Rifle. Who carries it the to he to Cal etl Field he says beginning to laugh with Shower units. If some of these people Don t get their Shower every Day they definitely let you know it s not their idea of by the time he gets to the Teddy bears the old Soldier i an barely contain himself. I just Don t think lie army the United states army is a plate for Teddy bears. You ought to go into some of these moms. You la fall Over All the Unk. There s not even mom for their army gear. Teddy boars in then j big is you Are. Some of the Guys have them do. And porcelain elephants. Stereos. Flast is. Pink curtains. And the Guys with their ears pierced. What the hell Are we coming Lof he leans Back and Roar with laughter. Teddy bears Pink curtains is he saying thai today s army is on the soft Side i think we have a somewhat Softie army. What s that word wimp a Little wimpy he says that lie does not mean hat it is not a Good army with excellent combat units people who know the mud and the freezing but it s also an army with too much fat a peacetime come in for the benefits Indof army. And in a moment he s Back on the subject of the need for More toughness and discipline in preparation for the next time that combat not benefits becomes the order of he Day. He remembers As a Drill sergeant gelling up in the faces of the Greenier and giving them the too. His famous wild beast scare their pants of i oof Damn you could do anything with them As Long As you were fair. You had to be fair and then there were the letters he got from his troops who d gone on to Vietnam. Bring smoke on their bulls Sarge. The More they sweat Over there the less they la bleed Over Kurt Schueler says he knows that the world is supposed to be different now he s told that often enough and says thai he really does t have anything against Teddy bears. It s just that he grew up in those desperate limes Learned his lessons in a Grimmer school of he world with Lille room for the fluff of life and no room at All for silliness what mattered is what he Calls True you have to remember where you come from. I come from where nothing was taken for granted. To me this is Rue life. In America you always have. Many things Are taken for granted. I can remember when i bit into my first banana after i go to the West. I did t know what the Damn thing was. I did t even know enough to Peel True life. Had he Ever a one to East Berlin or Back to East Germany in search of his old Village me no Why i m afraid.1 afraid onh str afraid they might grab and it has nothing to a with superstition 20 stripes Magazine january 11, 19b7
