Gun Collectors Club - REFORGER 85
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 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.
Reforger (Return of Forces to Germany) 85 and Operation Central Guardian was an exercise where we deployed to Germany for war games. These photos were taken in Germany during January and February 1985.
Regrettably, I can't recall my classmate's name that I'm having a beer with, but I can tell you what song was playing on the juke box.
Army Airborne Parachute Riggers (92R), Air Force (AFSC 2T2/1P0/1A2/1A9X1) and Marine Airborne and Air Delivery Specialists (0451) all go to school there. "Might as well jump!" "Go ahead and jump!" Nobody would dare put money in the juke box because they knew Jump had already been paid for so many times that you would be waiting until next Tuesday to hear anything else.
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.
The crisp, clean mountain air was nice and I had escaped from the never-ending Jump by Van Halen.
To this day, thirty-six years later, the words to that song are ingrained in me from that experience long ago.
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Upside-Down Vertical Shoulder Holster - Steve McQueen made this style holster famous in the 1968 movie "Bullitt."
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