"In this blog I am going to tell about some of my adventures during my two years active duty in the Army. In 1985 I participated in one of the biggest practice drills the United States military ever undertook. It was called REFORGER '85 (which stood for Return of Forces to Germany)."

An Army soldier on a ship, wearing a Greek sailors' cap, "what was I thinking"?

•  
•   First, let me say that nothing I say or show here in these pages is "CLASSIFIED INFORMATION". This is simply a mini-documentary of a young enlisted man's two-year active duty service in the United States Army. These two years (1984-1985) went by faster than any other twenty-four month period that I can recall in my lifetime. At the time, I'm sure it didn't seem like it was going so fast. I was saving my "Leave Time" in order to collect the pay at the end of my service and counting the days. Actually, I didn't count the days until I got down to the last two months, but I used that accrued leave pay to buy a 1972  Porsche 914 for $2,400 and I took a really memorable road trip from Colorado back home to Alabama. The road trip only lasted four days, but it stands out in my mind. I only made two stops, one in Missouri (to see my Army friend Conner, who got out before I did) and one in Tennessee (to see my friend Steve and family).
•  
•   My First Sergeant was a really cool guy. He allowed me to take a quick weekend trip home for a visit by filling out the paperwork to request leave, but not turning in so long as I returned safely to work on Monday. I hitched a ride with a couple that were driving to Atlanta. My friend had a brand new BMW and we drove from Colorado Springs to Birmingham in exactly 24 hours! 
•  
•   Coincidences: I don't believe in them (coincidences). The only time in my life that I had something stolen from my checked luggage during a commercial airline flight, was on a flight from Birmingham, Alabama back to Colorado Springs, Colorado. The only item taken was the camera with which I had taken the above pictures. All of the pictures I had taken toward the end of the trip were lost. These few pictures survived because the discs had been dropped off at the PX before my quick trip home. I can't for the life of me recall what kind of camera it was, but it had digital discs instead of film. I do remember that it was pretty expensive for the time and it may have been one of the first digital cameras. I'm sure that the discs are like 8-Track tapes (no longer available or usable).   
•  
•   I was one of the twelve Security Escorts (6 of us from Ft. Carson and 6 guys from Ft. Benning) that accompanied our equipment coming back from Germany - it took two weeks to cross the Atlantic due to bad weather we had to go toward Africa for three days in the opposite direction to avoid a storm because our ship was so heavy-laden with equipment. We went from Bremerhaven, Germany to Savannah, Georgia where we off loaded all the Ft. Benning equipment. It took several days to off load. Then we went from Savannah, Georgia to Port Arthur/Beaumont, Texas. It seems like it took us ten days to unload all of the equipment and reload it on rail cars for the train ride home to Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
•  
•   I guess I should start at the beginning before I start telling these small stories. After taking the exam and making really high scores, I turned down Officer Candidate School (OCS) because I didn't want to make the long term commitment required. I signed up for two years active duty. I wanted to go to language school but they required more than a two year hitch for that. The two year enlistment was available only to certain Military Occupational Specialties (MOS).  I chose 76Y, supply clerk/unit armorer. I processed in, in Montgomery, Alabama, went to Ft. Dix, New Jersey for Basic Combat Training (ten weeks at the time, I think they later reduced it to just eight weeks). From New Jersey I went to Ft. Lee in Petersburg, Virginia to school. I enjoyed my stay in Virginia. From Virginia I went to Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado for my permanent duty station. All of my classmates and I were on pins and needles to see which permanent duty station we would draw. They had allowed me to list three preferences with no assurance that I would draw any of them and I didn't, but I was pleased with my assignment.
•  
•   When I arrived at Carson along with a pretty large group of "newbies", we were all on pins and needles again, waiting to learn what unit we would be assigned to. With a Military Occupational Specialty of 76Y you could be assigned to any unit! I drew the 461st Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Unit and was attached to Delta Company, a Chapperal unit. All the talk was about "range time". Some units spend more time down range than others, playing war games. Some units never go down range, I wasn't that lucky this time.