GYROSCOPE
Part of the enthusiasm that spurred the men on during the long hours of summer training (at Fort Know, Kentucky) might have sprung from the knowledge that the Regiment would be headed for Germany in March of 1957.

On 19 May 1956, official word was received from the Department of the Army stating that the 11th Armored Cavalry would Gyro to Getmany to replace the 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

Colonel Allen D. Hulse assumed command of the 11th Armored Cavalry in July 1956 after having completed studies at the National War College. It was his job to prepare the Regiment for its gyroscope to Germany.

The 11th Cavalry completed its rugged training schedule on 9 February 1957 and was ready to move out. Shortly after the arrival of the new year an Advance party composed of officers and enlisted men departed for Germany. These men moved into key positions with the 6th A/C in Germany and observed procedures used by that unit and the Seventh US Army so to make the changeover as smooth as possible.

On 3 and 4 March 1957, the Regiment moved out from Fort Knox in two groups on the first leg of their journey. Arriving in New York they left the Brooklyn Army Terminal on 4 and 5 March on board the USNS's BUCKNER and GEIGER. Ten days later the Regiment had returned to Germany for the second time in its history.

The 11th Cavalry Returns To Germany
In order to accomplish its mission more effectively the Regiment was separated into three groups. The Regimental Headquarters and 1st Battalion were sent to the Bavarian town of Straubing (Mansfield Kaserne) on the Danube. The 2nd Battalion made its home in Landshut (Pinder Kaserne) some 35 miles Northeast of the gay and beautiful city of Munich, while the 3rd Battalion forming the Northern point of the "Iron Triangle" placed its Headquarters in the imperial city of Regensburg (Fort Skelly), the meeting place and governing center of Germany during the Middle Ages.

Regimental Commander in 1958 was Colonel James Snee; in 1959 Colonel Walter Geenwood took over. Major James Torgerson was in command of S2 /Border Ops /S4 in 1958. In 1959 he was transfered to 3rd Bat. that was having problems. Major F. G. Gosling assumed command of S2 / Border Ops in 1959. Captain Harry Peters was 2nd in command. I was personal driver for these Officers.

More on Hq-Hq Company S2/Border Ops/S4 11th A.C: Hq-Hq Company was issued two tanks (M48-A1); two personal carriers; two L19 planes; two H13 helicopters; one DeHaviland Beaver and two H34 helicopters. These were Cav. (Air Section) planes flown by army officers and Warrant Officers. Aviation Company didn't arrive untill late Dec. 1959. Early 1959 the 11th started using H34s to deploy troops wherever they could land. This later became a separate unit stationed in U.S. then went to Nam. and designated 1st Air Cav.

The 11th patrolled the German-Czech border from Whitehaus (sp?) in the north to Passau to the south. A group of engineers was stationed in Passau to destroy the bridge (if the red flag went up) entering Austria. I have no photos of the border as no one except authorized by S2/Border Officer were allowed to have a camera (while on patrol). However I am sure some patrols took the chance.

In early summer of 1958 a small plane went down near a swiming pool on the edge of Straubing. Two young men were pulled out safely. One was an 18 yr old Czech. practicing to be a civilian pilot. He stole the two seated trainer from a town in Czechoslovakia, flew to another town, picked up his friend, flew at tree top level to escape radar. He used the Danube River as a guide. He knew that when they crossed the river they would be in West Germany. The plane was moved to Mansfield Kaserne. A couple of months later it was loaded on a dragon wagon (low boy) and we took it to Munich airport - one jeep escort in front and me in the rear.

More on Border Ops: A three-lettered US federal agency had a house in Cham, a city north of Straubing. When I drove the officers to the border, we would try to stop there at some point to see what was new. They had their info downstairs in a special room. In S2 Intelligence you had to have a security clearance, "confidential" being lowest. I had a "secret" clearance. It depended on what you had access to as how high the clearance.

I had two MOS': 133.60, Intel. Spec., and 133.10, driver. I was in a special position. Per the Majors orders I was the only person allowed to take a military vehical off base without a NCO passenger. This was so I could go to a certain place or border camp or outpost without any one knowing where the Major or Captain were going. Most of the time we checked into the radio net using the S.O.P. call sign of the month. If we went at nite or later and didn't want anyone to know, we would check in at commo. room and use a different call sign. Only commo person would know .

Back to the three-lettered agency: every once in a while they would fly in. The plane was a DC3 twin engine equipped with all kinds of surveillance gear which they used flying along border. Having security clearance they let me aboard to take a look. In 1958 that kind of equipment was awesome.

Before I begin, I should predicate my story by saying that I was like most graduates from college, maybe more so, in my belief that the outside world ran like a Swiss watch, or in my army brat mind, like a West Point parade. Everyone was supposed to know where they needed to go, what they needed to do, how they needed to do it, and above all, the team was supposed to drill in a seamless, efficient manner. If I was a confused stumblebum, I thought I was the only one who was, and the rest would presently find me out. This first “command”, as it were, introduced me to the alternate world that most mature adults call reality.

Well the LOI called for us to go down to Wildflecken (or Chicken-Flicken in GI parlance) on Friday morning (the next day), report in at Range 9, feed the troops there, lock the vehicles (those organizing the event would feed the troops and provide security), come back to Fulda in the deuce and a ½ and jeeps that evening. Rally the troops the next morning and take the jeeps and the truck back down on Saturday morning for the live-fire demonstration and the following static display. Then we would come back Saturday evening. Easy, huh?

Friday morning, ready to move out, I found out that the Sheridans needed to be bore scoped (aligning the sights with the bore, always a good idea before shooting), something no one had thought of the previous day. I was FA, and while even howitzers required such calibrations, I would never have thought of it. It meant that we had to wait for 15th Maintenance to perform the procedure, while we cooled our heels. I was up in Squadron Maintenance grousing about the wait, and the Squadron Motor Officer sat back in his chair, his feet up on the desk, his hands behind his head, black beret (we wore them in the 11th and 2nd ACRs in those days) pulled down to his brow, sunglasses barely concealing a merry expression. After hearing my complaints, he grinned and remarked, “El Tee, this is the cav, you’ve got to learn to be flexible,” another comment that would stay with me a long time, although it would take a few months to find out exactly what it meant.

By late morning we finally got our show on the road. I have to admit they gave me two good NCOs, a SSG from D Troop’s first platoon, and a SSG from Bravo troop. There were a couple buck sergeants and an assortment of spec fours and PFCs, oddly none of my 3rd Platoon would be accompanying me. I also was given a West Point cadet (junior) on Advanced Officer Training, a kind of 3rd LT. He was there to observe mostly.

I found that I needed another uninitiated officer trainee like the tracked Sheridans needed spare tires. With radio checks and convoy interval worked out (the NCOs were experienced and knew what they were doing, happily, as I had never led a convoy before), I settled in for what I hoped to be an uneventful 25 mile trip to Wildflecken on a warm sunny day through the pastoral German countryside. But no convoy is ever really uneventful, and we were not halfway there when one of the Sheridans overheated, and had to pull to the side of the road. I consulted with the NCOs and we decided to let it cool off, and leave a jeep with it to escort the vehicle to the firing range. The rest of the trip is fine.

I had been told not to take the tracked vehicles through the Wildflecken Kaserne, or counter clockwise on the circular road from the entry point, but take the convoy clockwise, or left to Range 9. Which I did. I waited for about a half hour for the other jeep and the Sheridan to reach the range. When it didn’t, I began calling the jeep on the radio. No answer, F***! So I and my driver decided to jeep around the range road, in case the guys had gotten lost and came the wrong way, all the while calling the other jeep – still no answer, D***!

While we were speeding along by the kaserne, we had a flat, J****! What’s more, it turned out that while there was a good spare, the CO’s driver had failed to include a jack in the jeep back in Fulda, M*****F*****! My vocabulary was already getting a workout, and no sign of the missing jeep and Sheridan. We finally flagged down another jeep that had a jack, we quickly shed the flat and changed tires, gave back the jack, and were on our way.

Still no answers to my radio calls. We got to the original entrance to Wildflecken, and decided to keep going around back to the range and heard the Sheridan’s distinct engine whine. There we saw the Sheridan towing the jeep?!? It turned out that soon after the Sheridan had cooled off, something had gone wrong with the jeep’s generator or alternator and without electrical power, their radio didn’t work. I shook my head, “What next”, I thought.

Next followed rapidly, because when I finally got my limping circus back to Range 9, I took a breath and was told by my NCOs that they wouldn’t feed us, “J**** H. C*****!” So I was angry and concerned, fuming and thinking, trying to figure out how to feed my small band of people, when I spied a Lt. Colonel nearby. He had a 1 st Infantry Division patch and was sporting a 1/26 th Infantry cross rifles patch (my father’s outfit when I was born in Germany, so I was a “blue spader” myself). The 1 st ID was in West Germany on Reforger, a big Stateside-to-Europe field problem that used to take place before we had real occupation in Bosnia and combat in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq. I eased over to him (2LTs approach Colonels with care, even if I was somewhat jaded about Colonels, having been raised in officer country). We chatted amiably about the 1/26 th Infantry, that he commanded presently, and my father commanded from 1950-1953. Then he asked what was troubling me, as he had already determined I was not in good temper. I told him about my chow situation. A cloud passed over his face and he said, “Wait here, I’ll look into it.” Now he was not running this show, a captain was. But when an infantry battalion commander finds out that troops are not being fed, well, look out. Presently, my guys were happily chowing down. To this day, I do not really believe I was savvy enough to manipulate a Colonel. It was just a fortunate happenstance. At least I was able to solve that question.

Soon afterwards, the jeep repaired – a loose wire, I suspect – we secured the Sheridans, got everyone onto the jeeps and the deuce and ½ and headed back to Fulda, or Home Station. I visited each CQ and left wake up calls for my troopies for 0700 the next morning. I would be coming by for them at 0800. 0700 on Saturday, yeah, right.

Meanwhile, M60 tanks, their 50 cals set up, M109A1 155mm self propelled artillery, M60 MGs and many other vehicles brandishing crew served weapons were being lined up for the free fire minutes that would be the regional 7th Army fireworks for the US Army’s 200th birthday. Civilians and brass were starting to collect, including a Major from the 11 th ACR’s Regimental HQ. He was a Vietnam veteran and a cav man and was astonished to find that I had brought down one Sheridan that could shoot but not move and another Sheridan that could move but not shoot. I pointed to my crossed cannons and told him I was from D Troop and had only taken the Sheridans that B Troop had provided. He barked that it was still my responsibility (I was learning that while having none of the authority, I still had the responsibility of a minor prince). Luckily, having served as a platoon leader in the 11 th ACR in SE Asia, he was overly familiar with field expedients, and was able to help crew the Sheridan with the malfunctioning scavenger system. Heck, before that day, I had never heard of a scavenger system, although it did seem like a great idea. He helped them shoot when the time came and ended up looking like a chimney sweep.

Well the free fire time came, after much echoing of ponderous, unintelligible statements over an OD Green PA system. The staccato beat of the 30 cals, the heavier whacks of the 50s, booms of the Sheridan, sharp bangs of the tanks 105s and the thunder of the 155mm cannon direct fire. Just to show you that I was not the only screw-up. It turns out that the Captain commanding Range Control at Wildflecken, on sight and in charge at Range 9, had failed to log the range in wet (or hot) for live fire, a must before any range firing. The red flag had not been raised on the range either. I only found out about that particular grand snafu years later when I noticed a cartoon in the Range Control Office when I was there scheduling ranges for Howitzer Battery 1/11 ACR. Upon questioning the E-8 at the desk, he laughed and told me that was the grand FU during the Army’s 200 th Birthday, when a bunch of different calibers of weapons opened up for several minutes on a “dry” range. He said the Captain had caught Hell for that and never lived it down. The cartoon was there as a reminder. I, however, needed no such reminder for that day.

Well, when the shooting was over and the crowd dissipated we took our vehicles and static display boards to a holding area for our vehicles. I asked for volunteers to secure the excess vehicles and several hands went up. Both the sergeants and I knew that they might take advantage of sitting in their vehicles to take a toke, so we warned them not to (yeah, that works) and took only as many vehicles and personnel as needed and the boards for the display. I released the rest of the troops on their own recognizance over my sergeants’ opposition. Telling them to report back at 1600 for return to Fulda. We would leave by 1630, so they were cautioned not to be late or miss movement (an Article 15 charge). We then motored down to a parking lot in the town of Wildflecken to contribute to the overall display, kind of a Army used car lot.

While we were there answering questions posed by civilians and dependants, Squadron Commander, LTC Schurtz, and the Squadron XO, MAJ Tilleli, came down and talked to me, asked me questions about how things had gone. He made approving noises and moved off. The cadet, who had largely been watching me, had been of little help. I didn’t know enough to give him anything to do. I should have stuck him with the security detail, but then I wouldn’t have had any volunteers, would I? We looked at each other agreeing that what the old man didn’t know wasn’t going to hurt him. I was not to know until much later that squadron commanders already knew all the snafus. They just had a higher tolerance for the every day foolishness than I had developed by that time.

At 1550, we reassembled everybody at the holding area and waited until the 1630 march order. Two Bravo Troop guys were missing, but I said, we are not waiting, they had the word and would pay the piper later. Everything went well on the move back until we were a few miles out of Fulda in this little cluster of buildings. I stopped the convoy. Well, you guessed it. It was that same overheated Sheridan (whose crew, by the way had found their radiator cap in their engine well – idiots). I thought the same remedy would work that had worked on the way down. So I gathered my NCOs and told them to take the rest of the convoy into the Motor Pool, secure the vehicles, making certain they alerted Border Operations (Ops) to open the back gate, the preferred entrance to the Motor Pool for tracked vehicles. The NCOs looked at me strangely and asked if I was sure. I waved them off and said I could take care of this, and they took off, taking the USMA cadet with them.

The next Monday, I got chewed out by Captain Breeden, but not for going out the front gate, it seems that Border Ops had taken down my request and hadn’t acted on it right away, clearing me of the front gate gaff. However, because of the front gate gaff, my CO knew of my borrowing one of 1 st Platoon’s tanks, rather than taking one of my 3 rd Platoon tanks. My excuses of fading daylight, no available VTRs, and none of my platoon’s drivers with keys available, seemed only to tone his rage down somewhat. He may have been angry with himself, having sent such a green LT out, who did not know his way around.

Upon retrospect, after several more years in the 11 th ACR, I was to learn that my first “Independent Command” went far better than I had first believed and that minor glitches occurred all the time. I had faced all the little bumbles, had gotten all the vehicles and personnel there and back, had not had an accident or done anything irreversible, and all had ended well, my frustrations notwithstanding. By that time I had long outgrown my expectation that the Army should operate like an oiled machine, a ridiculous belief that took some time to shake. By the way, the two who missed movement had hitched back to Fulda! They got Article 15s for that, you can bet. The B Troop First Sergeant was none too keen on their bolting from the operation. I can’t imagine what they could have been thinking.

(More stories to follow)

I have thoroughly enjoyed your site ever since I stumbled across it a few years ago. My first overseas assignment was to Fulda with the Aviation Squadron of the 11th ACR on Sickles Army Airfield. I got there in Apr 1984 as an E2 Private and left Oct 1985 as an E4 Specialist.

When I first arrived the Squadron was composed of
Combat Aviation Troop (CAT)
AIR Troop.

Shortly after my arrival it was redesignated as 4/11 ACR with HHT and A through F Troops. If I remember right, one Troop was UH-1, 2 Troops of AH-1 and 3 Troops of OH-58 (the Cobra and -58 Troops may be opposite).

HHT had all the mechs, mess hall (best damn cooks I ever ran across in 24 1/2 years) and all the staff weenies. Except for HHT, the Troops were actually Platoon size - "A" Troop had 50 people, and the rest of the Troops (B thru F) were authorized something like 32-35 folks each. HHT had somewhere around 250. The whole Squadron was authorized 487 personnel - I remember this because I ended up running the Squadron NBC Room as a brand new NBC guy. Didn't have a clue to what I was doing. The only thing that bought me some "learning" time was the fact that I had spent 4 years as a UH-1 crew chief in the NG before going active duty, so I could talk aviation good enough until I figured out my NBC job.

During my time there we spent a lot of time at Graf, (Squadron Beer Halls at Graf) Reforgers, MRE (Maneuver Rights Exercises) and so on. Our pilots flew the "trace" constantly, from wherever we were. We did have the distinction of performing the "1st Aviation Decon" in USAREUR (or so said Stars and Stripes). During my 18 months there, I had the privilege of working with at least 3 future Generals - CPT J.D. Thurman, CPT Rickey Rife, CPT John Curran (might be more). LT Ozzie Gorbitz (love the name) was our HHT XO and eventually left the Army to fly jets for the AF and last I had heard made full bird. Our Squadron Commander during most of my time was LTC Patrick (Buda) Bodelson (he looked like his nick-name). Our Sergeant Major was CSM Dobbins.

We also had the 511th MI Company on the airfield with us. One of my running buddies (Billy-Ray) was "detached" as crew chief on one of their UH-1s. It had DILLIGAF stenciled across the nose. Gotta love it. We were basically a self-supported Squadron within a self-supported Regiment (I always felt like the 11th ACR was a "pocket" division). Our Aviators, however, were going to stem the Red Horde all by themselves (and I think we could have).

I wasn't "command-sponsored" but I had just got married so I brought the Mrs. over and we lived in Neuhof, about 15 km from the airfield, under the big salt mountain. Rent was cheap (great exchange rate) and our landlord was a German who was the Head Butcher at our commissary. We'd go in to get some meat for a party or cook-out and he'd whip out his magic marker and write "half-price/freezer burnt" on the steaks and we get out with 20 lbs of steak for $10. Great guy - his wife was Canadian and twice a year they would go Canada to see her family, and that's the only time he'd ever ask me for anything. He wasn't allowed to shop on post even though he worked there, so when they went to Canada he'd ask me to buy him some deodorant. You old-timers know that deodorant wasn't a highly stocked item in the German stores.

We spent a lot of time downtown at the Irish Pub. Guinness beer and darts. That bar was "ours". The tankers from main post (Downs Barracks) had their bars and we had ours. We didn't mingle together very well. It wasn't uncommon to be at the Irish Pub and have the Squadron S3 or any one of the Troop Commanders be there and buy a round. I managed to get a lot of "work" done on Fridays and Saturday nights - go in Monday morning an remind the Commander what he promised me Saturday night over a beer........worked every time.

Some other notable notables: CPT Glenn Botkin was our Commo Officer. Had a great little gang of guys doing stuff that wasn't invented yet. We talked to everyone, everywhere. My newborn baby daughter was the first baby he held - he used to stop by our place on the way home sometimes - said we were on the way - he lived 30 klicks the other way. 1LT Lawrence Montogomery was my initial NBC Officer. Hard worker, tried real hard and eventually got it done. He was replaced by a 1LT Arrendondo, good guy also. CPT Dixon was our S1 & taught me a lot about Army paperwork. CPT Cash Striplin was our S3 and used to take his dog to the field - in a Huey. CPT Butler was S4. All you had to do was think about needing something and it was there - brand new, ready to use. Going back to Gorbitz and Curran, CPT Curran was the HHT Commander when I got there and he and the XO and 1SG set me up when I got one of my promotions. I got called into his office, asked some questions about some missing equipment, read my rights - and then 1SG called "attention to orders" and promoted me. Won't forget that one for a while.

Got to go back during Christmas 2002 and was saddened to see that the airfield was basically gone. The 511th MI barracks and the Airfield Base-Ops buildings were all that was left. The rest of the area was being turned into a housing area. Main post (Downs Barracks) had been turned over the Germans also and the Polizei had some buildings, some other businesses had moved in and post housing was occupied.

Have a lot of bitter-sweet memories of that assignment. You don't realize what a good organization that you are a part of until you leave and get stuck in some other not so high speed units. Kinda miss the place. Thanks for letting me ramble on - BTW - when do YOU find time to do anything else? Every time I check the site you've added something. Thanks a bunch a please keep up the outstanding work.

The guys used to have a joke about the combat engineers (MOS 12 Bravo): MOS 11 Bravo is infantry. 12 Bravo was infantry that "blew shit up".

The airfield with Huey's and Cobra's had a light that had 1 spotlight on one side and 2 on the other. It took a while to get used to the "blink -- blink-blink" going 24-7.

Had a great time that I will NEVER FORGET. OORAH!

I was a member of that unit, and recall having tickets to Regensburg, and orders to Straubing in October of 1960. The travel orders were wrong, the First, Second and Third Platoons were in Regensburg at that time, along with the CO, Major Corsen. The Fourth Platoon was assigned to Straubing, and I was eventually sent to that unit.

We did bridge building exercises on the Danube River, and I was part of a detail that painted Fort Skelly God Awful Green. I took a slow motion fall from the top of the Theater Gables on that job when the extension ladder overbalanced.

I would really like to replace the unique Company Insignia brass. If I recall it correctly it was an engineer castle. I was only assigned to that unit for a total of 10 months.

I won a competitive appointment to the Military Academy Prep School and left in August of 1961 during the alert that closed the border, and saw the Berlin Wall Built. At the time of the Alert I was on a detail to Passau building a Chapel on the Border Post there. I am also curious if the Chapel was ever finished.

There are a lot of memories connected to that posting. The AFN program Hillbilly Reveille left indelible recollections of the GOOOD MORNING VIETNAM variety.

In any event, it was a pleasure finding that unit on a website.