MEMORIES OF THE 83RD MSL DET

Remember I am going back a long time but here goes:

I arrived at the 83rd Missile Detachment in September 1968 after completing Basic Training at Fort Bragg and Infantry AIT at Fort Polk, Louisiana. My MOS was 11B and my rank was PFC at the time. When I arrived in Germany I was sent to the 21st Replacement Battalion in Frankfurt (downtown not the new one that came later in Rhein-Main AB) where I spent about two weeks on KP while being interviewed for various assignments. At the time the 21st seemed to be having problems assigning so many troops. Eventually, some of us were told that we would be going to the Artillery. Of course we were surprised because we were Infantryman and wanted to be in Vietnam because we would only have to do the 1 year tour and then be released from active duty. In Germany we would have to remain on active duty until just before our ETS.

One morning about 25 of us were put on a train and told that we were going to Herborn. I still remember that train ride especially looking at the women with unshaved legs. We arrived at the 557th Artillery Group and were given rooms and processed by their personnel folks and sent for in-processing to Giessen. Giessen was our finance and personnel office. I also got my government furniture from Giessen as I was married and brought my wife to Montabaur. The Standort provided housing units for the married folks regardless of rank. We probably had 12 sets of quarters in Montabaur.

I remember being given a choice of remaining in Herborn or being sent out to the detachments. One of the old timers at Herborn advised us to go to the detachments because that was much better duty. So I elected to move out. About 12 of us were sent to the 83 rd Missile Detachment in Montabaur at Westerwald Kaserne. When we arrived they were very happy to have us. They did not have a commanding officer and all but two of the 15B, Sergeant Missile Crewman had rotated back to CONUS. We were told that we would be reclassified to 15B and must get top secret security clearances as well as receive screening under the DoD Personnel Reliability Program (PRP). (I would remain in that program and be a part of administering it for many years after that) As part of the processing we were sent to Wiesbaden Medical Center for physical and psychological screening. I still remember talking to the “shrink” about whether or not I had any problems with using nuclear weapons against Warsaw Pact entities.

The detachment was organized as follows:

Also had the Atomic Energy Commission inspection, I remember that the inspectors were all O6 rank from Army, Navy, and Air Force.

During my assignment we never failed a TPI or other inspection. If a unit failed a TPI they were required to be retested within 30 days. They would begin a comprehensive 30 training cycle, usually the unit commander was relieved, and a report was immediately sent to the Congress. Not something that you would take lightly.

Normal duty days consisted of studying. We were always studying our classified manuals because everyone in the unit was required to be able to lead if required. On many inspections team members were required to make decisions without input from the Team Leader or Sergeants. Each member was required to be capable of leading the team and providing required support to the host nation.

Of course we always had three persons on custodial agent duty at our storage facility. The facility housed the basic load of warheads for the 350th Rocket Artillery Bn. The Germans had a guard house outside of the gate and they provided security in the cleared zone and at the perimeter in between the outer and inner fences. They had guard houses at the corners of the sight. The cleared zone outside of the fences was patrolled by German guards with dogs.

Inside the inner fence were our guardhouse, a generator building, a maintenance building, and two bunkers. There were 3 soldiers on duty at all time, a senior custodial agent (E4) and two members. Two soldiers were awake at all times while the other slept. Duty was for 24 hours at a time. We were called custodial agents and were drilled with the specific actions that we could take for certain situations. One of the guards always carried the keys to the bunkers on a chain around his neck. The major duty was to protect the weapons from outsiders and to maintain the ability to destroy them if apparent takeover by host nation appeared eminent.

This was difficult because we were always outnumbered and being watched by the German soldiers. Guard duty was usually very boring however at times penetration tests were conducted by the Germans or Americans to see if we were on our toes. Once or twice we had SMLM..Soviet Military Liaison Mission vehicles come down the road to our site even though this road was off limits to them. I remember one time when I arrived at the site to find an American Colonel spread-eagled in the road. He was looking for directions and someone sent him down the wrong road. We received visitors at our building on Westerwald Kaserne on many occasions because we were the only Americans in that part of Germany. We got along fine with the Germans in Montabaur although the Poliziei did get frustrated with us playing bumper tag with our POV’s while racing around the narrow streets of the town. We all learned to speak quite a bit of German because we worked with them and were sort of isolated. We went downtown a lot, shopped, enjoyed the restraunts, and guest houses. The local German kids our age still believed the states were full of cowboys and gangsters. We did little to change their opinion. Overall we did not have any problems with the local people. We were the first Americans to be stationed in Montabaur since the 1st Infantry Division was there in WWI.

Duty consisted of CQ for NCOs and OD for officers. There was always an officer and NCO on duty. I was a senior custodial agent and pulled guard duty at the storage facility for quite a few months until I was promoted to E5. NCOs and officers pulled CQ and Officer of the Day respectively. These Detachments were the only time that I pulled CQ armed with a 45 auto. There was always an officer on duty because of the two man rule. We would receive various test messages through the Emergency Action Message System (EMAS), delivered via the single sideband radios operated by the communication section at anytime day or night.

When we went out on major exercises (and in wartime) each one of our teams supported one of the 350th Rocket Artillery Battalion’s firing Batteries. Of course we were dependent upon the Germans for transportation and support because we had no vehicles. We did have our own FM radios (housed in a footlocker that we used to communicate with the detachment headquarters when we were deployed with our German batteries. The 83rd Msl Det participated in a year long test of these radios that were made by Collins. I believe that the test results were mixed. I do remember being in Frankfurt for the demonstration of the radios to the SACEUR at the time General Lyman Lemnitzer…pulled back the canvas on our UNIMOG, German truck to catch us kicking our radio in the footlocker to get it going. That was a memorable moment. We also marched in General Lemnitzer’s change of command. I remember the less than warm reception we received from the Germans who were throwing trash and other items at us while we were marching.

We also had a requirement to go to the field once every quarter. We usually satisfied this requirement by going out in the field behind the detachment and having an all night picnic. We really did not have the right kind of field gear to spend many nights in the field.

The Germans provided us with drivers and vehicles so we could go to Wiesbaden and get the mail everyday. We got to know these guys very well and they event hung around the Detachment after duty hours. They ate with us…and we ate very well. We had a club upstairs in our building, complete with beer and wine, fussball, and pool tables. Each night we had American movies in our mess hall. I was in charge of movies and the small PX. This was a part time job that required me to go to Mainz and get stock for my PX and deal with the AAFES movie folks in Bad Nauheim. Sometimes we would ride to Wiesbaden on the mail truck to go to Wiesbaden or Mainz to the clothing sales store or commissary. One of our favorite places was the PX audio sales facility in Mainz Kastel. Everyone had a 200 watt stereo system.

In those days you always had a pass and we could never have more than 10% of our folks on pass at any one time. Passes were controlled by the Detachment Sergeant. Those of us with families that lived off post had passes that allowed us to go from work to home but we were required to call in whenever we went to Wiesbaden to go to PX, commissary, or hospital. We traveled to Herborn 557 th for various duties such as promotion boards meetings etc. We also went to Giessen for personnel and finance matters.

During the summer we spent a lot of the duty days studying maintaining equipment, playing volleyball and other activities. I enjoyed going to Koblenz and driving up and down the Rhine going to castles. We were also close to Koln and Worms. During the fall and winter we were very busy getting ready for the TPIs. We also participated in Reforger and other exercises with our German batteries. We went to the German NCO club and associated with our German counterparts. I remember being in meetings with the 350 th Bn commander on several occasions and we received briefings from them on various subjects periodically. We worked together very well even though the German troops were mostly draftees and not highly motivated. We used to go to the rifle range and fire their weapons (we enjoyed the Uzi) and drive their motorcycles. So we had a lot of interaction with the regular troops. We depended on them for much of our support. They were our mission to a large extent.

Sometimes a convoy of special weapons would overnight at our storage facility and we would let the drivers and other folks stay in the gym on the Kaserne. We were also tasked as convoy commanders or surety officers when special weapons were being transported around the country. This was an extra duty that we provided because we were trained in proper procedures for transporting and securing special weapons. We were fully versed in the NASICP procedures. I think that stood for Nuclear Accident Significant Incident Control Procedures. I went on a couple of convoys as surety officer because there was a shortage of officers in Europe at the time.

I also did some work for the mess sergeant, mostly typing. Typing a skill that served me well during my 23 year career. In conclusion this was the best job any soldier could have. I remember thinking they are actually paying me to do this. I enjoyed the responsibility and trust that was placed in us and we took great pride in honing our skills so that we did our jobs the best that they could be done. There was no room for mistakes in much of what we did.

Officers and senior NCOs brought US cars over with them, such as Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, Dodges, Mercury’s, Chevy‘s. Lower-ranking, lower-paid enlisted personnel bought used European cars for personal transportation. An Opel Admiral was a rarity; more common were Opel Kadets, Fiat 850’s, and the VW Beetle.

The Special Ammunition Storage (SAS) site (where warhead sections in containers were stored in bunkers) and the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) site were located on the air base. To bypass the need to call for the German duty driver, personnel going to duty at the QRA each morning could walk from the detachment area after breakfast; for the longer distance to the SAS, driving POVs was allowed, usually in carpool fashion. The duty driver was used for delivering noon and evening hot meals to both sites.

The theater on the air base showed movies in German (e.g., “The Bridge at Remagen” with German dialogue), except on Sundays when British films were shown (often comedies, such as the “Carry On“ movies). Admission was in Deutsche Marks (DM).

Outside the air base, near the housing area, was a British NAAFI store, with pricing likewise in DM; GIs were welcome to walk in and shop there.

Support services (medical, large PX, commissary, Army theater) were at AFCENT headquarters at Brunssum and Shinnen in Holland. Every unit member and dependent was issued border crossing paperwork for that purpose.

I was at the 85th until September 1973, when, as a Sgt E5, I rotated for Stateside duty.

(Click here to read about Dean's assignment to the 1st Arty Det)

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