European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 18, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Old army. Stories by Don Tate stall writer he looks abit bleary eyed on the crust Side Only Gal hours sleep the Ghl Motorc spent night with an m-1 on persuading in so get of it Beautiful. 60 Ion carcass move a baby gelling in dragged solely Oil a cold Muddy Hillside just 100 Yards from the German Border. Yeah in takes a pc Cinco to say Wilh a sleepy shrug in a Small Camp near the Border. Tell you what i Don 1 have Beas for Hook education. But i Gol a Little crusty. One la Cly Hoai of n crusty private crusty colonels Are not unknown jul the word blossoms when applied to certain scr Eanls sergeants who be been around who know the Way things really work and make things work War horses workhorses Gruff Bluff savvy a bit Long m the tooth but As Basic id the army As a Bayonon thrust a Tot of units Nave Al Casl one the people Call them. Or old Sartje " what s really with old Sarge people want to know though they Are afraid to ask what s under that seamy crust More cams sic Lawrence Walls though nol Quilo touching 40. Is the essence of the old Sargo in Fox troop. 2nd so 11th army Cav Rygl Tuhcic he is in Middle of All these newbies Young troops the Hight new Breed he s there Wilh his old Soldier shooting War memories wearing that inevitably amused slightly pained crusty but patient smite patience indeed years he s been in. Three hours of Vietnam Alt the outrageous misfortunes of combat. Paratrooper Hanger Tanker. Got Biown off a tank by North vietnamese a 7 fire. Survived six different blasts when his Anks rolled Over mines. Saw 38 of his buddies take the big ride i knew All those Guys on a Tisl name basis that Nils hard in one death spooked three Day stretch. Saw a lot too is Ilion is by pc n George sic. Lawrence Walls 21 years in the army. Bloody much Al times real world education. Yeah he says beginning to Wake up i be spent a couple a Days in the a my. Won a few medals. I Don t Wear pm that Ollen. The War s Over it is never forgotten of course if you were m it Iong enough if you were 18 and learning about soldiering in the school o bleed and die whore they might have to scrape you Oil a tree to Send you army a gain and again you hear it. The general the colonel or the medal of Honor Winner will be remembering Way Back talking through memories that Drill like Bat Liefield smoke. Everyone will agree that War is really hell. And then Al a certain moment the timbre of the voice will change the eyes will it nol Flash lightning at least take on a look of go my excitement that Oclis you in was no Ordinary thing they were doing some will Tell you in was the Centra experience in their careers. Maybe not the biggest but the greatest Job they Ever had in the army Sec Lawrence Watts commander. Cap Tim Touzinsky. Is a new Breed Soldier who has that Job he s a troop commander the cavalry s equivalent of company commander. In combat it is hands on command n the grit Tiest sense the fives of 100 or More soldiers Are in those hands. If he does it right gels them through the Valley of f no alive and even victorious. The Bond that forms Between the Leader and his men can Border on Mutual worship ii he Doert wrong gels his people slaughtered. Iho psychic Hole dug can be Loo deep to fill in one Small i Letic even in non combat. The Job is so Lull o Challenge and Reward that you can Kcjr All kinds of majors Light colonels and other stall types saying boy. If i could Only gel Back wild the troops it lakes a special Man. And wat is the old pro. Says Touzinsky is that kind of Man. A line who could Lead m combat who lakes Careol his soldiers gives a Damn the Best Job i says Touzinsky. I just Hope i Al be Happy be Able to tit in when i leave he s sure tit in since he s had in. Unfortunately Onward and upward is not always the Oad to happiness tora Guy who is great with so Kmiers one none what he s doing is usually the isl Lime a commander is in touch with his troops at a level where to can know anal makes a Man sweat. Can decipher so Range looks in their eyes what makes them twitch and Bitch or suddenly do something so great that he wants to get up and shout hallelujah. At 29, Touzinsky is nol yet Inlo crusty. He has Yello Lead men into desperate combat. Has Yel to Soo what Watts has seen get the kind of dark feedback that comes from watching his men die. But he s seen enough to know that i could expect some very is hinge reactions. And thai you probably never know what you Vegol As a commander or a unit until you be been bounced around under heavy it he has l yet seen or experienced Grace under that kind of pressure As a peacetime Warrior he s come about As close As a Young commander can leading troops who would Likely be plunged into Tierce Bailie hardly before the Echo of the first shots had Laded to spent three and a half years within shooting distance of the Doz in Korea no cushy place a Good part of it As a platoon Lank commander he hash t had a soil Job Yel to Germany he s worked four 30-Day Tours along Chi East German you can have the . Of a doughnut and know the army Ain l the same in peace As in War he laughs. Only some people Don to says he does t talk about the War much. To � easy to give people the wrong impression. The pm Soldier kind of thing to can talk easily enough about combat to Somaf the senior officers or other old Sarges Veteran to Veteran. The ones that Are Tell. Yean he s going on now about a bread of South vietnamese irregular troops those Damn fluwwii., supposed to search and Cleat those Woods but they would t get Oil the Lank. So we did a 360 with Tow Turret right and knocked those bums off the and Clear tight the first Woof line they Camlo putts sat Down and started cooking Damn of left. Welt excuse my Alligator Mouth but and he continues describing combat Down and dirty in a Way Hal men who went through it can understand laugh Al and respect and then there was our Man Shaw. Old Tara a dive Shaw. . Lieutenant who was supposed to be a Leader. Every time we took would Flop Down on the Lank floor. And everybody would kick him in the but to oct him Back up. Then came a time whenever he threw his bags up on a Mitt everybody else would just jump Oft. Hell All of us Wen scared Bulyko Tirol to do what you got to do end you can t give orders from Down on your nose. Then Hicie was old Dunlop. In tank commander who would go up on a Hilt in hts Lank and just crash go to Steep without pulling out any defences just begging tar Chuck the enemy to Lake his people to the cleaner. So they stuck do Flap Back on the Bunker line with do1 take a dive and Lei them defend each Lawrence Watts sips his Coffee and gives Oil thai Little smile it s the kids to says the Bright new bread who Don l give a Man All that much respect just because he was in a War and maybe knows a or Autiat thing or two Aboul the Way it hits the Ian. And caught some Lead. And earned a Tew medals Page 14 the stars and stripes Border and the Home base of his 122-Man troop is bad Kissinger. Just a tank dash Down to inroad. It War broke out the Cav is geared to be Ihrl first to fight the first line of defense to Stop Nemal the bordered hold them As Long As we Slop the thundering red army Oul Here on the Border we train on the precis ground we d defend in War. Every Lank every Bradley every scout. We All know our exact lighting positions to know the positions where they Chaveu break through in an Fullil like ours. The training on that is almost continuous it s like a moving train in s to fast. A couple of assumptions on our whole War plan a that we h have some time to react but even if that did l happen if it was like Pearl Harbor we re ready to Roll out of the Camp lighting i have All my ammunition Here Al Camp Lee. A troop size Border Camp t have my medics i have fire support my scouts All my tanks so. Sure. I be got to think thai i could to loading these Guys into combat some Day. How can you come up Here and nol think it. Touzinsky. Who sounds like a thinking Man. Says on Touzinsky i have to feel proud of a couple of things when i first took command Sal them All in a theater and talked about the goals we wanted to reach. I told them something that i did t think was strange uni my final Sarge Caneup to me afterwards and said sir. No one s Ever told them that Belore Frida
