Reminiscing

I went to the range today - yes, on Friday - I'm a beneficiary of mandatory commuting reduction by my employer so I work 9/80 and get every other Friday off.  So, off to the range.  I was wearing my ACU boonie cap with my LTC rank on it and got approached by a nice young man with the same cap with E4 rank.  He called me 'sir' and asked about my AF T-shirt (Keesler AFB courtesy of young daughter) combined with the Army cap.  We chatted and learned that we both had been in Germany with the Army but separated by 22 years.  The Warsaw pact forces that we stood guard against in my service were the allies that he trained with during his service.  We talked about volksmarches and bratwurst and some of the other GI favorites.  My stories for him were about as remote as what an occupation force veteran's tales would have been for me when I was in Germany in the 70s.  I don't realize the passage of time until something like this happens.  To me the details of 30+ years ago seemed to have happened maybe 10 years ago at the most.

If you are curious about the U.S. Army in Germany click on the link:

http://usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm

Go to this link to see Harvey barracks - the photo that is used shows the buildings occupied by the unit I was assigned to during my tour in Germany:

http://www.thirdreichruins.com/wehrmacht_posts.htm#kitzingen