The Practical Joke Department was in rare form not only sending me to Germany but sending a fellow pilot (CW2 Kurt Haldeman) who had almost the exact same qualifications as I did to Korea. Kurt wanted to return to Germany and I wanted to return to Korea. We even discussed a swap with our assignments branch to no avail, so we were sent to opposite ends of the globe. To make matters worse, medial issues with my family meant that they had to stay behind initially while I went ahead to Germany and they would arrive later once everything was coordinated with the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP).
My report date was 20 April 1995 which meant that I’d miss graduation at APSU, not that it had really mattered, but it would have been nice for the wife and family to see. Instead, I arrived in Germany and had the wonderful experience of getting from the Rhein-Main Terminal to Wurzburg and then on to Giebelstadt where my unit was located. Flugplatz Giebelstadt has a historical significance as it was the Messerschmitt 262 (ME-262) jet fighter base for the Germans in World War II. Now it was home to the 5-159 Aviation Regiment and my unit Alpha Company (Big Windy).
As usual, my first day in Germany is nothing but a vague blur as Jet Lag was kicking my butt. I remember getting shown around by my platoon leader to the personnel center in Kitzingen and the main housing area where I would eventually live in Wurzburg at Leighton Barracks. Leighton was the division headquarters for the 1st Infantry and had the Post Exchange, Commissary and important things like Burger King and Popeye’s fried chicken. My day ended at the Gesthof der Lutz in Giebelstadt. This would me my home for the next 16 days.
The Lutz was an interesting place. Hotel, Restaurant, Meat Market and Bowling Alley. I was in a room on the second floor and it was tiny by western standards (3 by 4 meters or so) with an on-suite bathroom. I learned that the owner (Very nice lady) spoke almost no English so conversation was limited with and most the staff. My Platoon Leader and guide (1st Lieutenant ???) suggested I try the Spelunkin Steak “Cave Steak” as it was the signature meal of the Inn. Top Sirloin with caramelized onion, mushrooms, bacon and Hollandaise sauce (Rump steak mit onions, champions, uberbacon und Hollandaise sauce). I must admit, it is still one of my favorite German meals.
I spent the next day in processing at the unit and at Kitzingen. Most of my time at Kitzingen I spent working with a German national named Gunter. Gunter had been married to an American and hated being back in Germany since his divorce (I never got any real details other than he was pretty bitter about the situation.) But Gunter liked Americans and he liked me which made the trial of in processing a bit more tolerable. The evening ended with me getting dropped off at the Lutz. Somewhere during the first two days I was there I must have mentioned to my Lieutenant that I liked to bike ride because he had mentioned that he and two friends were going to Garmish Saturday morning and would I like to come along? Foolishly, I agreed to go.
6 AM Saturday April 22nd the morning (my 16th wedding anniversary) came way too early and the Lieutenant had to rouse me out of my sack as I was sleeping fairly soundly. I quickly dressed and we were out the door and into his BMW and off to his friend’s house. There we met up with two other Lieutenants and their bikes. I began to sense that I was out of my league when I noted that the 3 bikes they had were Cannondales that cost more than I earned in two months, these guys were serious bike riders and I was a piker. But I had been riding a fair amount and I figured that I was in decent shape and I could keep up. With over ten grand of bicycles loaded (2 on the roof carrier and one in the trunk, we piled in and off to Garmish we sped down Autobahn 7. Giebelstadt to Garmish is 350 kilometers (210 miles) and we arrived in less than two hours (yes, we were going 120+ mph most the way due to now speed limit on most of the Autobahn.)
About halfway to our destination it occurred to me that Garmish is in the German Alps and that I was not only going mountain biking with a bunch of semi-pro mountain bikers, I was doing so in some serious mountains. As the Alps came into view my apprehension began to increase and for good reason, these were some serious mountains. Garmish sits in a bowl along the Loisach river surrounded by some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever dreaded riding in. We went to the recreation center where I rented a bike (Much nicer than mine) and we went out on our day’s journey. I kept up fairly well most the morning and then they decided to do this trail climb up a hill that I made a little more than halfway up before determining that I was spent. I told them to go the rest of the way and hoped that I’d be rested enough when they made it back down about 30 minutes later. We finished the ride around three thirty in the afternoon and then had dinner at a restaurant they liked before the race back to Giebelstadt and then up to Wurzburg for the “Fest”.
“Fest” is short for Festival and the Germans have a lot of them. This reminded me of a county fair until we got to the Bier tent. Turns out that biers are served in two liter mugs and Pils is the local beer of choice. (Pils = Pilsner). With Jet Lag, biking to exhaustion and a couple liters of bier later, I was pretty well polluted before I was returned to my room at the inn in Giebelstadt sometime before midnight. When I awoke Sunday morning I had parts of my body hurting that I didn’t even know existed but other than that I was in pretty decent shape as I didn’t drink that much bier as I’m not fond of Pilsner.
I managed to make it down to the restaurant that morning and had coffee and brats for breakfast. The cups were small but the hostess kept them full and there were deli meats and other items so it was pretty nice. I learned later that the coffee was expresso and the 4 cups in the morning would keep me up till about 2AM. I didn’t put that piece of the puzzle together for about a week, so I spent a fair amount of time bouncing off the wall until I had that epiphany.
My biggest challenge during my initial arrival was just getting around. I soon made friends at the unit and that was helpful. CW2 Jose Millares was one who helped me out a lot. He was married to a German National (Doris) and they were very helpful in my getting around and getting myself organized in what for me was a very disorganized place. In all my other remote postings, you could get around on foot or there was public transport provided by the military. There were shuttles between Giebelstadt, Leighton and Kitzingen but usually they were not organized in the order I needed to travel, usually leaving marooned at one location for 4 hours waiting for a return trip. Having friends with a vehicle made things easier.
I think the biggest surprise was the speed that I got housing, and that they let me sign for it before my family arrived. I’d been told it was about a 4 month wait and I expected to be placed in bachelor officer quarters (BAQ) only to learn the BAQ waiting list was 8 months. Then seemingly out of nowhere I was assigned an apartment on the 3rd floor of building 400 at Leighton Barracks. The building had two stairwells and each had six apartments. The most amusing thing was my assignment as stairwell coordinator. Normally, the senior officer in the building and the stairwell he lives in. The senior officer of the other stairwell (this building had 2) is normally the coordinator of the other.
In our case, the Building coordinator was a Captain and the senior officer in his stairwell. The senior officer of the building was a Colonel in my stairwell who was usually deployed so the job was given to the Captain. I was the junior officer in my side of the building and somehow the job landed in my lap. (The Captain told me that I was the only one he’d met who he thought would actually “DO THE JOB” and I believe he was right.) I was undisturbed with this assignment as I’d had a similar tasking in Alaska where I was the housing inspector for two housing areas on Fort Richardson. I knew how to enforce the rules and ask for the Captain’s assistance if I got any flack over my junior rank from senior officers. All in all, it wasn’t much of an issue and I never ran into a problem I couldn’t resolve myself.
Temporary furniture was delivered the day I signed for my quarters and I was even able to connect my little TV to the cable connection and I learned that I already had cable TV with was a bonus I didn’t expect (I’ll talk about that later in another post.) The apartment was on the third floor which was a minor hassle but overall a bonus. The best thing was we had a laundry room in the basement so I could wash my clothes. Once in processing was complete, most of my life was routine and the hardest thing I encountered was the coordination of travel for my family. Finally, in July 1995, I received orders for dependent travel and I flew back to the states to bring the family over for a European adventure.
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