European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 31, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Iam Skeffi a ass is Michael Abrams. Col. Alfred m. Baker claims saying goodbye to Berlin is one of the toughest assignments he Ever had. Double Farewell Berlin brigade and jts chief of staff both ending eras t is Filo members of the Berlin brigade band join in a final Allied Parade in Berlin in june. Above . Troops patrol the City in 1961. A by Robin Wright los Angeles times n the summer of 1969, Alfred m. Baker was blown up by a Satchel full of Viet Cong explosives. The explosion threw Baker 20 feet into air the Impact broke his Back  places ripped off almost half his face and snapped Bones All Over his body. Medics deposited him in the triage Section for those left to die. Before a priest began giving him last rites Baker managed to Clear away the Teeth and bits of gum knocked into his Mouth. Get the of away he mumbled to the priest. I m not Catholic and i m not going to  Baker was awarded a purple heart. It was his fourth in three years. And Vietnam marked Only the Early phase of Baker s career. Later assignments including two Black Book posts delegated by the Secretary of the army were just As dangerous and often More challenging. Yet no assignment contends Baker now a colonel has been As painful As his Post As chief of staff . Come Berlin brigade he is overseeing the closure of a . Base that has meant a half Century of american presence in a City that symbolized the cold War. And As he turns off the lights of the Headquarters built for nazi Field marshal Hermann Goering Baker also will end a three decade career. In some ways this has been the toughest assignment i be Ever had its saying goodbye to a City and a Mission that has played such a role in history it feels like amputating your own leg reflected Baker 53, As he sat in the cavernous office that once served the Luftwaffe. Plus the whole Kaleidoscope of what i be done and All i be been Tor .30 years ends Here. This is the last Stop. There is no  the end of the Berlin brigade which will be marked by formal ceremonies next week Ami the i. Ashen no of one of the army s most decorated y a its Are Makh  most if c Hanges w  the Amu i an  during the Wiital phases of its a save of adv a i Hen iat Davs a Mhz Ilu f i Fie passing if a  k a my Bic american Soldier and an ambitious Mission that first led the United states to International Power. Since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, More than half the 1,669 . Military facilities overseas have been. Eliminated reduced or inactivated just Short of the 54 percent reduction of 1990 Levels expected by 1996. And since the height of the Reagan buildup in 1987, when nearly 340,000 personnel were stationed in Europe some 200,000 service members have been reassigned to Home bases left the military or retired from Europe alone. Like Baker Many of those affected by the cutbacks in posts and personnel Are the most War hardened officers still serving in the military. Due to either tire notably the 30-year career limit or the new streamlined military Many who Cut their Teeth in the Foxholes marshes and Jungles of South Vietnam Are now being retired. Among them is one of the army s contemporary legends. " ". It took More than 1.5 operations to put Baker Back together he underwent 10 just to reconstruct his face. I told them i had looked like Rock Hudson. They obviously screwed up he said laughing. The Only visible reminder of Vietnam is a Lump on his upper right lip which he opted to keep rather than undergo More surgery. As a professional Soldier Baker did t take a military discharge. Eighteen months later he was Back in Vietnam. Years later colleagues referred to Baker s final tour in Vietnam As his col. Kurtz period after the renegade officer played by Marlon Brando in apocalypse now who set up his own Jungle kingdom among the vietnamese and pursued the War on his own terms. Shortly after Baker arrived in the Jungles and Rice paddies of Phu yen province a Remote Corner of Vietnam he dismissed the other seven members of the team sent to work with the villagers. They were the wrong people in the wrong place doing the wrong jobs. It was t their fault Baker explained. For the next 19 months he lived mostly alone moving annuity the villages to work on their problems. Thought ii was going to get them to Fullow my advice i had to i -1 like they did he recalled in the 1980s, As the Middle East replaced Vietnam As the leading hot spot Baker landed in Lebanon and found his life increasingly embroiled in the world s longest ongoing conflict in 1981, he was assigned to work for the , truce supervision organization which monitored tension Between Israel and its Arab neighbors. B Aker headed unto s Mission in Lebanon atthe time the Region s most explosive Border. The Mission which forbade . Observers from carrying arms was to get the Plo and pro Israel militias to Honor the latest of Many truces since unto went to work in 1948. Both militias were resisting deployment of . Observers to Monitor their activities. " to build relations with the Plo Baker took his Bedroll to a Plo guerrilla Camp Contact banned by . Law but allowed while he worked for the United nations. After a dinner of Rice Stew he listened late into the night As they talked about their cause and their lives. He then slept among them under the stars. Overtime he persuaded the Plo to let . Troops deploy at Beaufort Castle the 12th-Century fort on the Hills leading to Israel. He then trekked across the front line to the Christian militia an israeli surrogate Force based As a Buffer inside the lebanese Border. I told them it was a shame that they were losing business to the Plo because the , wives were shopping every sunday in Plo dominated Tyre where they Felt Safe because of the . Presence. I told them i d like to throw some business their Way he said chuckling at the memory of his guile. Well there was nothing to buy there but a brought the wives along and told them to buy whatever hey could. They were Dutiful and pulled out $10.0 Bills. U within two weeks we could drive wherever we wanted. The . Finally had Access to the town he added Chu Komg again. The peacekeepers were thus deployed m tht1 rivals two most strategic bases. Baker was Ible to do things that store almost impossible that other it Josie  dream about . Miracles said Herman Katura an american who i d with Baker in in i so. He would talk to people i  sense lot hem. They Truit Eti  i i b Ike returned to Lebanon a my Ond the. As chief of the office of military cooperation a so called Black Book Post because of its sensitivity. His. Mandate. Was to revamp and retrain Lebanon s army As the basis for rebuilding the fractured state. But he arrived just three Days before a suicide bomber drove into the . Marine Barracks killing 241 from then on the . Presence was in Retreat. After the marines finally sailed away in Early 1984, Baker and his Crew who operated independently remained behind. When the second us. Embassy was blown up that september Baker was widely recognized As one of the heroes for rescuing the wounded and then operating a makeshift american Mission. As in Vietnam Baker unexpectedly went Back a third time in 1988, As chief of staff of the Sinai Force the multinational peacekeepers set up by the Camp David accords Between Israel and Egypt. Now Baker s career will end where it started in Berlin. Shortly after the Wall went up and the Berlin brigade was formed in the Early 1960s, Baker was a Young lieutenant often assigned to patrol East Berlin. It was like looking into Day on one Side and night on the other like living in Sunshine while looking into a storm he recalled. As i drove around people would sometimes signal Don t forget us " now Berlin is preparing again to be the capital of a unified Germany. A key step is Rel Oval of All foreign forces including the historic Berli brigade. That will come sept. 7, when the . Flag is taken Down from the old nazi Headquarters a daily ritual known As the Retreat. This ceremony is called the final Retreat alter which All flags and references to the Berlin brigade will officially end. I take great Pride in the fact we finished our Mission Here that a threat is Over and we Are Able to end an Era he reflected. Hut Vou have to be careful about having your dreams come  he leave  without a Job facing an Uncertain future. In some. Was. It s an Antu Pirnat in  i his is an Odd Way to end my career. I m used to hot spots Baker said. It i quieter than i would have liked " Baker and blight shining Lier by Robin Wright los Angeles times during his third tour in Vietnam Alfred m. Baker worked under John Paul Vann the acclaimed Dpt controversial military Maverick dissected in Neil Sheehan s pulitzer prize winning biography a Bright shining lie it was a turning Point in Baker s life. Vann appraised the Saigon government Early on As corrupt and inept. He understood the War was being lost among the peasantry and he knew High tech weapons were often producing More guerrillas than they killed. After failing to win promotion and thus forced out of the army Vann returned to Vietnam As a civilian adviser and. Architect of a different strategy to counter the Viet Cong. His eight Man teams culled from the diplomatic intelligence and military communities worked on a . Program advising villagers at the grass roots level on economic political agricultural and health issues Baker became one of Vann s boys. Vann was a role Model for Baker. Their lives took similar turns. After world War ii Vann a southerner pulled himself out of poverty through the army. Baker grew up on a farm near a West Virginia Coal Camp his father worked for the Railroad. He joined the army because the military represented the Prospect of a Middle class life he said. Vann excelled in the army. He distinguished himself in combat during the korean and Vietnam wars although his heroics led to tales of recklessness As Well As valor. He also spoke his mind and rarely hesitated to take on the military brass often drawing Awe from troops but disapproval from superiors. The combination ultimately Cost him a general s star./. A Baker also Rose rapidly through the ranks he was a major within seven years of his first commission. Soldiers who knew him  Early years remember archetypal blood and guts prowess. He was a tremendous Hunter a natural Hunter. That s Why he was so Good in combat recalled Everett Thomas who went through Ranger and airborne training with Baker in 1963. Vietnam s Climax however had a vastly different Impact on Vann and Baker. Vann s ambitions ultimately undid him. His criticism of . Strategy softened his hawkish actions hardened. Obsessed with Victory As proof of America s tightness he began to let the ends justify the Means. And As that Victory proved Ever More elusive he called for airstrikes and even boasted of the smell of dead bodies wafting in from nearby Jungles after their hits. Vann died in a 1972 plane crash during a North vietnamese offensive. In contrast Baker was one of Many officers who angered by the american experience in Vietnam became wary of War. During the first two Tours had one Job Baker said. It was to seek out the enemy and destroy him. That was my mind set and that s what i did. During the last tour i began to understand we weren t going to be Able to win. And i began to see  Baker concluded that there were different ways to wage and win a War and firepower he decided had its limitations. Once again it goes Back to Vann. Vann s idea a not to fight on a military basis. You had to offer people a better alternative to show they could make government u her without taking up arms. So the idea was to rebuild a nation from the up it was a Beautiful concept he said Vann 20 the stars and stripes a get 31. 1994 Thi stars and St Iris