European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 02, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Unification one year later Vvs a via a Sas John Millar Tito Tun break through on tha old German Border silo getting a former 11th army Cav regt  troops look for a new Mission Sis John Millar two years ago the Mission of the 11th army Cav regt was to Man the and patrol the Borders. Today the Job is to train train and train  John Millar staff writer like two Rooks on a giant chessboard the american and East German observation towers stood Sentinel on the Border Between East and West Germany. Soldiers in both towers constantly scanned the opposite Side of the Fence noting every movement. At any Given moment soldiers on the West German Side were prepared to jump to the Edge of the Border armed to the Teeth to Call checkmate on those in the East. And on both sides it was t too Clear whether the first one Over the line would win or lose the game. Soldiers of the 11th army Cav regt based in Fulda Germany were players in the cold War game. For 17 years the troops monitored and patrolled what they called Quot freedoms Frontier Quot a a 200-mile stretch of the Border. But the game ended in november 1989. The players on the Eastern Side quit before checkmate could be called. The Rooks a the 11th s observation Point Alpha and the opposing Tower once manned by East German Border troops a now stand abandoned on the soil of a United country. About half of the soldiers now in the regiment were part of the chess match. The rest of the Border veterans have left for new military assignments or the civilian world. Sgt. Philip works was the unit s Border operations noncommissioned officer and often briefed top level . Officials on the ins and outs of the strategy. Works is now the no in charge of the 11 the s emergency action Center. The bespectacled army sergeant said the East germans were Busy along their Side during 1986 and 1987 with construction projects Security improvements and constant patrols. Quot in 1988 there was a physical drop off in the amount of activity. The reason for in was unknown Quot works said noting that soldiers monitoring and recording East German activity had less to record Quot where we would get in the neighbourhood of 300 sightings 300 spot reports we were now Down to less than 100 per Day. That seemed to be an indicator but we  Tell an indicator of  almost All activity on the Eastern Side stopped in 1989, works said. Quot it was dead. It was completely quiet up  the unit received reports of demonstrations at Leipzig and East Berlin but no one knew what was about to happen he said Quot they did t Stop repairing the Fence or their barriers they just slowed it Down a lot. East German Border guards once had a tradition of carrying Quot Short timers cords Quot a length of Cord with knots tied for each Day of Border duty the soldiers had left to serve Quot they would take their Bayonet and chop off a knot at the end of each Day Quot works said. Quot they loved to wave that out their window screaming at the top of their lungs. They weren t supposed to do it but they did it. You stopped seeing that so much. You did t see a lot of new  after the Wall came Down on nov. 9, 1989, three Legal crossing Sites in the regiment s sector increased to nine then 11 and then 26 All in the first three Days after the Border was opened. Quot people were just streaming across the Border Quot works said. Quot it looked like a dam had  soon the East German observation towers were empty and . Border patrols,.,were ordered to take their machine guns off the tops of the vehicles works said. Eventually regimental soldiers started meeting their former enemies. Quot we ran into Guys we had patrolled against. Wed meet these Guys Down in Hunfeld Quot works said. They would want to carry on a conversation with you hey All is forgiven now we re friends now they re not trying to collect information on us we re not trying to collect information on  for a few months after the cold War game s climactic ending the regiment s troops continued to Monitor and patrol their turf. On March 1, 1990, the unit s soldiers i a a ceased regular Border patrols with v corps saying it recognized the reality of the political situation in Europe. All patrols stopped by april 1, works said. Three of the units fou permanent observation posts were returned to the German government this year unit spokeswoman Renate Stieber said. The remaining piece of Border property will be handed Over soon. But with the end of the Border Mission came a flood of questions from soldiers said capt. David Nobles a troop commander. Quot soldiers were asking a what do we Donow that the Border s not there a we spent a lot of time talking to soldiers about it Quot he said. His answer Quot we just kind of have to shift  Only a handful of specialists from the regiment were deployed during the persian Gulf War. But soon after iraqis defeat troops of the 11 the found themselves on their Way to Turkey for operation provide Comfort and to Kuwait for operation positive Force a show of military muscle not unlike that on the old German Border. Soldiers assigned to operation positive Force had the same Outlook on their Mission As those on the former German Border patrons he said. Quot they look at the a amp wait people their lifestyle and see a people oppressed Quot he said adding that the soldiers got the same feeling from watching East germans. Quot there Are people throughout this world who Are oppressed Quot said sgt. 1st class Jim Oldenburg the regiment s top scout vehicle gunner. Quot and whether we like it or not whether we accept it or not we Are going to be the ones that Are going to be called out and kind of be the policeman and say a listen you can t go around torching people you can to go around taking other Peoples countries you can t keep people locked up behind fences for a year or 50 years Quot Oldenburg said the . Army can t play by the rules used during the cold War chess game because the nature of future conflicts is unknown. Quot you have to be even More prepared now Quot Oldenburg said. Quot you be got make the Soldier understand that he s doing this for a  in the past the reason was the Border. Quot now you have to say what s next who a next is there going to be somebody next a i Don t  because of the uncertainty of future conflicts Oldenburg said soldiers have to train and maintain their equipment for any eventuality Quot if you Don t work hard you re going to get caught Short and if you get called on next you might have a lot of people die it might not be a 100-hour War. It might be a 100-year War. History repeats itself who knows what s going to happen next7&Quot Page a the stars and stripes wednesday october 2, 1991