army

United States Army, Active Duty 1984-1985

My time in the Army... and Reforger 85 "In this blog I am going to tell about some of my adventures during my two years active duty in the Army. Gun Blog    |    My Army Days    |    1984-1985
firing range Hammelburg Germany
firing range
Hammelburg, Ger.
REFORGER '85 and Operation Central Guardian

Exercise Campaign Reforger ("REturn of FORces to GERmany") was an annual military exercise and campaign conducted by NATO during the Cold War. The exercise was intended to ensure that NATO had the ability to quickly deploy forces to West Germany in the event of a conflict with the Warsaw Pact.

Blue Team (Germany based units) USAREUR (U.S. Army Europe): 8th Infantry Division, Bad Kreuznach; 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fulda; 3rd Armored Division, Frankfurt-am-Main. Orange Team (U.S.-based units): 4th Infantry Division (Mech), 5th Infantry Division (Mech), 197th Infantry Brigade.

The Diary of a Soldier 15 January 1985
January and February 1985 was a very tense time in the Cold War

Greg | 31 December 2023

U.S. - Soviet relations were frozen from 1979, when the Russians invaded Afghanistan until March 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev took power. This period is sometimes referred to as the "Second Cold War" after the thaw in the 70's.

Mike Boyle standing watch on a street corner

In just 28 short months (November 1982 to March 1985), the Soviet's went through 4 leaders; Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko and finally Gorbachev. During this time the U.S. was led by one man, President Ronald Reagan.

David Battaly driving me as Gunner
I'm the gunner and my friend David is my chauffer
Sgt. G

During the last two weeks of January and the first week of February, things were moving at such a fast pace that I really had no time for my notebook.

bratwurst stand

Thursday 7 February - The last group of 4/61 ADA left for the Netherlands and their return trip home. Only two of us from 4/61 remained, SFC Sawyers and myself. There were four other soldiers from Carson that remained with us, for a total of six Security Escorts with our equipment. I had a hot shower, only my third since 9 January. Reading that entry from my note book brings back memories.

SFC Sawyers