European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 3, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Down on the farm in deutschland tank Driver and sex rancher Wesley Linscomb spent part Eta week on a farm near Bamberg West Germany. Story and photos by Vince Crawley Nurnberg bureaus org Sennefelder 28. Has a Wile two daughters and a 60 acre bavarian Dairy Larm near Bamberg. West Germany. He has 17 milk cows about half As Many As he needs to earn enough to leed his family. Government quotas won t let him raise any More than that to make ends meet he works evenings As an attendant Al an underground parking garage and takes on american soldiers to help with the farming. He s also Iho local Volunteer fire chief. His Hometown to Tunstad is a Small place in a fold of lulls along the Southern Bank of the main River the oldest town in the Bamberg District last year it celebrated its 1,200th anniversary a number that pretty much matches the size of the town s population. The rolling slopes Are unkind to Farmers this Harvest the Hills around Trun Stadt have already toppled Over iwo tractors so when pfc Wesley Linscomb. A 20-year-old Lank Driver and sex rancher asked to 0in the farm help program he army sent him to the Sennefelder he spent part of the week harvesting cattle fodder the old fashioned Way by hand Sennefelder is one of three Farmers in Iho area who regularly gets american Field hands through the farm help program most us installations in West Germany have some version of the program through which go volunteers preferably those with a Rural background spend a week on a local farm it s Good Lor both sides the go gels a change of Pace away from the routine of Barracks life the Larmer gets some needed help Bolh sides often make lasting friendships. And the army gets to project a wholesome non threatening image among farm Folk who might otherwise to concerned about the threat of nato tanks chewing up their Fields. Linscomb whose family owns 35,000 acres around Refugio Texas North of Corpus Christi. Said he volunteered Lor farm work so he could gel away from it All Lor a week. You Don t have any kind of family in the Barracks. So you forget what it s  he said. It s Nice to see other families with Little kids running around eat at a table and Lake a Bath in a Bathtub instead of in a Shower room Vilh 30 Guys running  Linscomb went to College for two years on a track scholarship but broke his leg pole vaulting and joined the army Hall a year later to get enough Money to finish school. He was studying agriculture but thinks now hell try to become a veterinarian Bui i m going to do livestock not no danged dogs he said i could t handle women coming in and saying my dog has a headache. " he drives an m-1 Abrams Lank because he Lold his Recruiter he did t want a desk Job. Spec. Marco Gonzales 30, also drives tanks and is in the same unit As Linscomb 6 co in the 1 St army div s 3rd in. 35th army regt. He went to the Bayer family Larm in Sossdorf a smaller Village on the other Side of Bamberg. Hench Bayer 22, the Only Able bodied hand to King on the farm where he lives Wilh his parents wanted to Lear Down the family s original House but the government had turned it into a historic landmark and he has to Lix it up instead. He plans to Divide the enormous three Story building into apartments and begin renting it next year to americans americans have been on his farm every year since he was seven he said and they be been Good to him Gonzales originally from Long Island ny., said military Larm hands do the  first you Start the Day Wilh feeding the animals which i  he said then Afler breakfast we hooked up a portable la in 6.000 liners and sucked up some water and flushed out the cow pens. The flies Don i have anywhere to go now. Then i stored some wheat up in a loll then we went to fertilize the Fields thai look eight inns with the portable tank in the meantime i gave the evening Chow to the cows while his Heinrich Bayer s parents were slaughtering ducks Lor dinner. We finished fertilizing at 9pm, came Back had dinner. I look a Shower and went to bed " that was his Lisl Day the Good thing about it he said is the work leaves you really comfortable at the end of the  to had volunteered to be a Arm hand last summer to get away from people and liked in enough that this year he asked to spend another week Wilh the same family military officials in the Bamberg area say they make sure thai their soldiers Are going to Farmers who really need the help. Siegfried Pink of the Bamberg Public affairs office said he works closely Wilh the German run farm help program thai sends temporary manpower mostly itinerant or immigrants from Eastern bloc countries to Farmers going through Tough times. Five years ago. When his father died and his wife had just delivered their second daughter. Sennefelder found himself running his 60 acres alone thai s when he read the announcement in the paper and called the american Cavern since then he s had More than 40 Gas doing chores at his House including one female a Texas Gal to said partly in German and partly in English. She was Good Al repairing machinery but not Loo Good Al  last year his Wile Carola started snapping polaroids of the american visitors and writing their names and addresses on the backs to keep track of them All they gel a fairly regular Stream of former Larm hands visiting them plus postcards and an occasional phone Call from someone in Detroit the neighbor girls Carola said always Stop by just to see the american and people always ask if they can borrow your american to do some chores for a Lew hours. No Carola tells them. Why Don t you go gel an american of your own them me Sld to  in the farm help program should Contact Thair Public Allaire Oll Icar of unit commander. Page 14 the stars and stripes