From the Soldier side:
Back when I was a very young PFC (Private First Class, which had nothing
to do with any class) I was stationed at one of the greatest post in the US
Army. Charlie Company/ 2nd
Battalion, 6th Infantry- The Berlin Brigade. In 1975 I was due for promotion to Specialist
E-4, (Spec-Four). One morning I got up
and began getting ready for PT (physical training) like we did every working
day. We’d warm up with the usual
push-ups, sit-ups etc then go run until whoever was leading the run that morning
got tired. These runs would be anywhere
from a mile to 4 miles….and I hated running.
However, that morning the company clerk told some of us that
there was a special detail that we might want to volunteer for. Now many of you with military service might
ask “why would the company clerk give us a head’s up for a special detail.” Well, we used to drink with him so he took
good care of his comrades.
So, I found my squad leader and we told him we’d be happy to
volunteer for the special detail for the day.
He ran off and checked with the Platoon Sergeant, who checked with the
First Sergeant, who wondered how in the hell we found out about the special
detail. But, he figured if we had good
intel like that, then we were smart enough for the mission. He told us to go draw forty fives (Colt, 1911
A1 semi auto pistols) and ammo.
We drew our weapons and went to chow. (a good Solider never misses chow.) When we returned, we were told to walk over
to the shipping and storage area across the post. When we arrived, we found a small gaggle of
Army MPs, who we reported to. They told
us that we’d be guarding 40,000 M16 A1 rifles that had been sent to Berlin by
mistake.
Now, even as a 19 year old PFC, I could not help but wonder
how in the hell the US Army could ship even 40 rifles anywhere by mistake, much
less 40,000. We didn’t even have 40,000
Soldiers in West Berlin, even if you added the Brits and the French. What kind of idiot could make a mistake like
that. I knew if I even lost my own
assigned weapons that everybody in the Army would have known about it.
Now, some of you are sitting there and asking: “how could
they ship 40,000 rifles to Berlin by mistake, this story sounds like bullshit.” But that’s what we were told. I didn’t open the cases and count all the
rifles…but we had a convoy of semi-trucks to guard.
Now, keep in mind that the US Army didn’t really trust it’s
Soldiers with loaded weapons….so we were only given one magazine for our
pistols…that held only 5 rounds of .45 ACP ball ammo. (I wish I had that pistol today, the one I
was assigned was made in WWII by the Remington Type Writer company)
We stood by with the MPs as the labor force loaded the cases
onto the trucks. Then the four of us got
into the cabs of the 4 semi-trucks and chambered a round into our 1911A1
pistols. We headed for Tempelhof Air
Base without incident. When we arrived
at the air base, a bunch of Air Force Security Police heard what we were coming
with, so they met us at the flight line and stood by as the cases of rifles
were loading into the plane.
Now, remember what I said about a good Solider never misses
chow. The AF Security Police asked us if
we wanted to go eat in their mess hall.
Hell yeah! They had fresh salad,
ice cream and they even cleared off the tables for us. After that, I’d always look for some reason
to go to the Air Force base. (years
later in Iraq, I did the same thing…they always had the best food!)
Two of our guys got on the plane and stayed with the rifles
all the way back to the States. They
came back a few days later and said it was a boring trip.
Another dumbass story with a happy ending.
Later. CI Roller
Dude.
