Reforger Nostalgia

[MikeyD]

[Combatintman]

21 hours ago, hank24 said:

 Must have been late '79 or early '80. I remember I was just busy to learn to drive the M113 for the drivers license.

The GIs liked my boots which were privately purchased and made of nice, shiny, soft leather. I instantly took orders, rode to the shop at Hildesheim and bought some 8 or so pairs of boots and exchanged them for cigarettes. Everybody won with  this deal. And I mean their boots were rather primitive, thin, and ugly.

I think it is like living next to a volcano. You know about the danger, but you simply don't care after some time or when you are born at that place.

And you are absolutely sure where you have been in Germany all the time?   With all these odd place names like Gross Dahlum converted to Great Sssadahlum by the British soldiers? (They all knew Salzdahlum, a village close to their barracks; always coined their own names - really strange)

And be assured, the farm was not ruined by this incident.

Oh I went Allesuberderplatz but only passed through Braunschweig on the British Military Train to Berlin and back.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Combatintman

[Mastiff]

On 3/18/2021 at 3:03 PM, Sequoia said:

The picture of the US tank on the flatcar, is that a M-60? The reverse turret throws me.

3rd armor M60. 

[MikeyD]

M60A3s.

[HUSKER2142]

3 hours ago, MikeyD said:

M60A3s.

Interesting boots, is it part of a kit from toxic substances, biological agents and radioactive dust ?  In our army, they like to use stockings from a protective kit in spring and autumn, when there is sticky mud everywhere. 

[ng cavscout]

4 minutes ago, HUSKER2142 said:

Interesting boots, is it part of a kit from toxic substances, biological agents and radioactive dust ?  In our army, they like to use stockings from a protective kit in spring and autumn, when there is sticky mud everywhere. 

They're wet weather overshoes, US Army chemical boot covers are (or were up till I retired in 2008) black and have laces, not those loop fasteners

[ng cavscout]

5 minutes ago, ng cavscout said:

They're wet weather overshoes, US Army chemical boot covers are (or were up till I retired in 2008) black and have laces, not those loop fasteners

Like these

 

[Splinty]

1 hour ago, ng cavscout said:

They're wet weather overshoes, US Army chemical boot covers are (or were up till I retired in 2008) black and have laces, not those loop fasteners

Those are wet weather boots, but at least by the time of Desert Storm they were authorized as NBC boots as well. The lace up boots that came standard with the chemical protective suit were notoriously hard to don correctly and tended to disintegrate under field conditions. It was normal to wear the wet weather boots instead as the were easy to use and were considered as effective as the chemical NBC boots.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Splinty

[Vergeltungswaffe]

5 hours ago, MikeyD said:

M60A3s.

 

That Grease Gun makes me happy.

[MikeyD]

Just for fun I wanted to see how close I could get to that M60A3-crossing-the-bridge pict. Not half bad for 10 minutes playing.

[sawomi]

No spruce in the background, just deciduous woodland. 

For Central Germany we need at least spruce, black pine, beech, maple and poplar would also be nice.

For Northern Germany we need much of red pine.

[Field Oggy]

46 minutes ago, MikeyD said:

Just for fun I wanted to see how close I could get to that M60A3-crossing-the-bridge pict. Not half bad for 10 minutes playing.

The Medium Girder Bridge (MGB) is in game?

[MikeyD]

[StieliAlpha]

On 3/23/2021 at 1:16 AM, sawomi said:

Only one time I had really fear. That was when I was 8 years old in 1983. Some rainy November morning I come to school and there is Apell and all the older ones and the teacher seem to be very scared. I did not really understud what it was all about at the time. Only that I thought there will be war and I will die. Then on that day in school we also had to read text about Hiroshima and Nagasaki etc

Interesting, that must have been because of Able Archer 83. The exercise was held in November 83 and raised the tensions quite much. Though I don‘t remember much of it. Those were my early University days and I had quite a hard time, trying to get up to learning speed.

Looking back, I never felt very threatened in the 70‘s and 80‘s. Even 15 years further back in primary school, we had no „duck and cover“ lessons.

What I do remember, is that the military presence in Germany was quite high in general. There was rarely a day without seeing Phantoms in the sky or some trucks and tanks on the roads. But then, I grew up in a garrison town. That explains the tanks on the roads and the Brits in the shopping streets.

And of course, I remember endless political discussions on a high level between us students and people in general.  Normally well informed,much more involved, but also cooler and more pragmatic than what we hear and see nowadays.

Edited March 31, 2021 by StieliAlpha

[sawomi]

4 hours ago, StieliAlpha said:

Interesting, that must have been because of Able Archer 83. The exercise was held in November 83 and raised the tensions quite much...

No, it was because of deployment of Pershing II MRBM. West German parliament (Bundestag) gave approval for deployment in West Germany on November 23, 1983. That at least was, what all the noise was about. Soviets never made a public statement about Able Archer 83. So it is impossible that we as kids in GDR where indoctrintated about it in school.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pershing_II

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

[sawomi]

5 hours ago, StieliAlpha said:

Looking back, I never felt very threatened in the 70‘s and 80‘s. Even 15 years further back in primary school, we had no „duck and cover“ lessons.

Swiss had a seat in a bunker under the Alps for every citizen, I hear. In Thuringia only the Stasi had a secret Atombunker. 

https://www.thueringen.info/frauenwald-bunkermuseum.html

[StieliAlpha]

27 minutes ago, sawomi said:

Swiss had a seat in a bunker under the Alps for every citizen, I hear. In Thuringia only the Stasi had a secret Atombunker. 

https://www.thueringen.info/frauenwald-bunkermuseum.html

Not quite. Switzerland only had the Building regulation, that for all citizens there should be a nearby nuclear shelter with sufficient provisions. Most single houses had/have their own shelter, apartment buildings had shared shelters and in an Apartment complex, you would find a central, shared shelter for a few buildings.

Basically those shelters were for free for use as basement rooms, but they had to be equipped so, that they could be cleared and converted into shelters within a few days (I.e., no additional in-build walls,etc).

IIRC, this building regulation was given up only in the early 90‘s, I believe.

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by StieliAlpha

[StieliAlpha]

48 minutes ago, sawomi said:

No, it was because of deployment of Pershing II MRBM. West German parliament (Bundestag) gave approval for deployment in West Germany on November 23, 1983. That at least was, what all the noise was about. Soviets never made a public statement about Able Archer 83. So it is impossible that we as kids in GDR where indoctrintated about it in school.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pershing_II

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

Now look, for us the threat obviously came from the other side.

[sawomi]

19 minutes ago, StieliAlpha said:

Not quite. Switzerland only had...

 

Ok. But you had some bunkers. At least...

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/prepared-for-anything_bunkers-for-all/995134

[Mastiff]

On 3/28/2021 at 9:44 AM, MikeyD said:

M60A3s.

I always wondered why the boot over the main gun mantel? 

[markus544]

What moron would what to nuke Switzerland.  Oh the russkies.  Or East Germany maybe.  Cold war was nuts.

[markus544]

13 hours ago, MikeyD said:

Just for fun I wanted to see how close I could get to that M60A3-crossing-the-bridge pict. Not half bad for 10 minutes playing.

I sure like the looks of those M-60's

[sawomi]

1 hour ago, Mastiff said:

I always wondered why the boot over the main gun mantel? 

Presumably to keep dirt and dust out of the pivot mechanism of the gun. Sometimes naval guns on ships have them too.

[StieliAlpha]

1 hour ago, markus544 said:

What moron would what to nuke Switzerland.  Oh the russkies.  Or East Germany maybe.  Cold war was nuts.

Well, refer to my post in the General Discussion Forum. I agree, not about nuking Switzerland, but close enough.

[Holien]

9 hours ago, StieliAlpha said:

Interesting, that must have been because of Able Archer 83. The exercise was held in November 83 and raised the tensions quite much. Though I don‘t remember much of it. Those were my early University days and I had quite a hard time, trying to get up to learning speed.

Looking back, I never felt very threatened in the 70‘s and 80‘s. Even 15 years further back in primary school, we had no „duck and cover“ lessons.

What I do remember, is that the military presence in Germany was quite high in general. There was rarely a day without seeing Phantoms in the sky or some trucks and tanks on the roads. But then, I grew up in a garrison town. That explains the tanks on the roads and the Brits in the shopping streets.

And of course, I remember endless political discussions on a high level between us students and people in general.  Normally well informed,much more involved, but also cooler and more pragmatic than what we hear and see nowadays.

Not seen this TV series mentioned but it is very good to give non Germans an insight into some of the period politics. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland_83

I really enjoyed it and a useful insight to some East vs West German dynamics. 

YMMV but worth hunting out Imo.