NEWQ

Prologue: My military service has not taken up much of my thinking. Until the war on Iraq, that is. I served under and with cadre who had been both in World War II and Korea. They talked of duty and of being sent on missions that were poorly planned, poorly equipped, and poorly led. Their greatest fear was vainglorious, reckless, and incompetent commanders. They referred to them as John Waynes and General Custers. As the nation ramped up for the invasion of Iraq, that cadre came often to mind. When the insurgency began compiling numbers of casualties of our troops, I could hear my platoon sergeant, a master sergeant with so many medals that he could not put them all on one uniform. We have no men to waste, he often said to the troops. And that was a guiding principle in the way he carried out his duties. No open combat was taking place with American troops during the time I was in the service. That fact makes those of us who served then ineligible to be full members of some veterans organizations. Consequently, Cold War veterans found other means to recognize and honor their service. While holding a faculty position near a military facility where officers and enlisted men were sent from Viet Nam for retraining, I spent a great deal of time dealing with the after effects of that war as men tried to rebuild their lives. It was not an easy task, because soldiers were often reviled on campuses and made the object of ugly scenes. I was released from active duty in winter, so I got to keep my military overcoat. One bitter, windy, sleety day, I wore it as I walked to campus. As I approached a street crossing where students were waiting for a traffic light, a young woman made a comment about the Nazi in their midst. Young people coming from the horrors of war in Viet Nam found, like African American troops returning from World War II, that their own country had turned against them. As a veteran, I intensified my efforts to find ways to help the returning men build their lives. As my platoon sergeant said, we have no men to waste. Family members of late have asked about my service. It has been 50 years, So, around Veteran's Day this year, I began to search the Internet for any records and news of the Cold War, the units deployed at the time, and the men. I found interesting sites and accounts, but I also found some problems with the factual information. This web log will attempt to report what soldiers did during the Cold War. I will write about my military experience. Initially, I'll focus on my overseas duty on the Rhine.