[ Up ]

The Diary of a Soldier: Page 2

On day four, Monday 14 January, we left at 0300 Hours (that's 3 am) to convoy to Bebra. We arrived at the warehouses in Bebra at approximately 1900 Hours that evening. The trip was an adventure to say the least. The main body had joined us the day before.

As we were fueling the vehicles in preparation for the convoy, we discovered a major problem with our deuce-and-a-half (2½ Ton Truck). It was over-heating. The temperature was in excess of 240°. We carried the truck to the shop where third echelon maintenance is performed by a crew from Kaiserslautern.

The shop was on a nearby German Kaserne. They worked on the truck until about 0200 Hours and thinking they had it fixed, sent us on our way. It over-heated before we got out of the gate good. The mechanic pulled the thermostat out and threw it away without replacing it (due to lack of parts). No thermostat means we will have no heat in the cab of the truck (lucky us).

We barely made it back to the marshalling area in time to leave with the convoy. SFC Stewart and SSG Lurvey were both very nervous. We had to leave two of Stewarts people behind at the shop with his vehicle, which they were unable to repair in time for the convoy.

There were four stops along the way. At the third stop in Darmstadt at a German Kaserne, the convoy left D-6 (Delta-6, that's us) and the POL (fuel) truck behind. SSG Watkins was driving the fuel truck and we were following him as escort (protection). The vehicle in front got too far ahead, Watkins lost sight and made a wrong turn. We followed him.

The wrong turn resulted in a dead-end street with no room to turn around or maneuver the trucks with trailers. SSG Lurvey had taken over at the wheel earlier, as I had been driving for nine hours (with no sleep in 24). Him and Stewart were about to have a nervous fit!

We caught up with the convoy about 45 minutes later on the Frankfurt Autobahn. 

[ Up ] [ REFORGER Pg. 3 ]