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Cold War Reenactors? REFORGER anyone?


T-Bone
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I’m trying to put together a small impression based on a tank crewman in West Germany around the 1960 to 1970s. Do any of you guys know what gear they would’ve been issued or carrying?

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  • 5 weeks later...

I was at Fort Bragg and Germany (Berlin Brigade) in the 1980's. Was a different time. My Daughter will inherit a WWII Footlocker loaded with BDU's, M65's, Jungle Fatigues, Boots, insignia, signed books, Posters and other periphenelia from that time period. The Jungle Fatigues are loaded with 82nd Airborne insignia (original since it's mine). I imagine that these will become more and more rare.

 

Some day it'll be worth cash if she sells it on ebay.

 

Rock

Hi there - Not related to the topic but I noticed something cool. My grandpa - nicknamed Rocky - served in Vietnam with the 82nd Airborne (505th PIR) and also has a daughter, my mom.

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It's been a while since we have posted anything on here.. I just finished an exhibit at the US Army Sergeant's Major Academy on the 1970's to 1990's Army. This was a big transition time for the Army, coming out of Vietnam and rebuilding, refocusing on our old adversary; the Soviet Army.. So this exhibit shows some of the iconic items used in the late 70's through the 80s into 1990 period.. The Yellow PT "banana suit", the transition from the .45 automatic to the 9mm, the M1 helmet giving way to the Kevlar, the OD green perma press "pickle suit" transitioning to the woodland BDU uniform, C-rations to MREs and of course the DoD's "Big 5 Program" where we transitioned from UH-1 Helicopters to UH-60 Blackhawks, the Cobra attack helicopter to the AH-64 Apache, the M60 main battle tank to the M1 Abrams, the M113 Personnel Carrier to the Bradly Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the Hawk Missile system to the Patriot missile system, and of course other changes in vehicles, weapons and equipment.

 

Here are few pictures..

 

 

 

Leigh

post-5554-0-57914500-1548796196_thumb.jpg

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Thanks Beast...

 

The Banana suit was used in the late 1970's and was phased out around 1987-88. This was my PT uniform that has been carefully preserved to stand the tests of time....

 

post-5554-0-01172000-1548796878_thumb.jpg

 

Here is another angle..

 

post-5554-0-83334700-1548796949_thumb.jpg

 

More..

 

The grey PT uniform which is next to the yellow PT uniform was the replacement for the banana suit. Not much better than the yellow uniform, for those of us who wore both, there was not much improvement, except the color.. I received my grey uniform sometime in 1987-88 in Berlin.. Not exactly sure of the date/time.. But I do recall on one deployment to West Germany to Vogelsang, I was still wearing my yellow PT shorts and my company t-shirt in the pictures, so it may have been after that deployment we got the greys...

 

post-5554-0-58427100-1548797062_thumb.jpg

 

Finally a shot of the "Big 5" project vehicles.. I am still searching for a HAWK missile battery in 1/72nd scale to add to the exhibit, but for now we wanted to get this out and exhibited...

 

I also have an M151 Jeep to place in the exhibit.. The Humvee replaced that and our last wall patrols in Berlin were conducted with the jeeps. We received the Humvees around late 88 early 89 and used them for wall patrols for a short period of time prior to the wall coming down.

 

Leigh

post-5554-0-23467800-1548797463_thumb.jpg

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Thanks for posting. That whole case is like a time warp for me... Including that self set parking placard! Where is this display located?

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Gil,

 

The display is at the US Army Sergeant's Major Academy command group hallway. I am the curator of the US Army NCO Museum which is across the street. We fall under operation control of CMH (Center of Military History) but are working with TRADOC (Training and Doctrine Command) since we support an Army school house.

 

The parking lot placard was a head scratcher for some, but I explained what it was used for and some had never seen them when they were stationed in Germany.. I used the one in the exhibit all the time when I was stationed in Berlin...

 

Everything gathered in the case was from my collection and service time in the Army.. I was glad to open this time capsule since I had not opened many of the boxes I had this stuff stored in for at least 20 years..

 

I am glad that everyone is enjoying this thread. It has been great recalling the past service time from our members..

 

Thank you everyone for their service in the military, regardless of branch, rank, unit, position.. Everyone contributed significantly...

 

Leigh

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The parking placard is the small blue and white wheel on the top shelf upper right side. Directly next to the Warsaw pact poster. This wheel was placed in the windshield of your vehicle when parking in a us sector parking lot like the PX complex. You spun the wheel to the time you arrived. If your vehicle was parked for any length of time after the posted time allowance, the MP's could ticket you. I think the time allowance to park in the PX and commissary lots was 4 hours. I can check with one of the directors at the academy because he was an mp in Berlin when I was there.

 

Leigh

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You could also get a ticket if you cheated by setting the time forward. Let's say you arrived at 1 pm, but you made the card read 2 pm to get an extra hour. If the MP's caught you anytime before 2pm you were busted.

 

I thought these were used on the German economy as well.

 

By the way, I still have my ADAC (German Automobile Club) approved 1st aid kit and orange warning triangle. All POV's were required to carry these.

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Gil,

 

The parking placards may have been used on the economy as well. I don't recall using them on the city streets of Berlin. I usually parked on a side street near the Kurfurstendamm without any incidents...

 

Leigh

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  • 2 weeks later...

Still some Cold War Warriors still out there. I just learned that one of my fellow Platoon Leaders from our days in Schweinfurt now commands the 82nd ABN. This is the fourth General Officer that I know of that came from the battalion in which I served.

 

Maj. Gen. James J. Mingus, 82nd Airborne Division Commanding General

 

 

post-203-0-33943200-1550173635.jpg

 

 

 

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A tour in Germany could either make your career, or break it.

 

Many of the colonels that were in the 8th ID when I was there in the early 1980s were key commanders during Desert Storm.

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  • 1 month later...
Sgt_Rock_EasyCo

Love the display case! We had gray PT suits at Bragg in the early 1980's and yellow banana suits in Europe. I didn't care for the yellow because when you washed them the threads shrunk and the zipper became challenging to line up.

Rock

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Rakkasan187

Thanks Rock,,

 

When you washed the Yellow uniform too, it seemed to shrink, even if washed in cold water and then you were wearing knickers it seemed like...

 

It looked rather funny seeing a battalion running down the street in the banana suits and black caps...

 

Them were the days.....

 

Leigh

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  • 1 year later...
  • 5 months later...
On 3/20/2009 at 8:10 PM, jgawne said:

BDU's for cold war?

 

nah, I'd only do the mid period with OG-107s and eat boned chicken and/or turkey

.....wait a minute, unless my memory has failed. Weren't the greens OG-507's?

 

....yes, I realise this is an old thread.....

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On 12/30/2018 at 1:04 PM, tk1976 said:

I’m trying to put together a small impression based on a tank crewman in West Germany around the 1960 to 1970s. Do any of you guys know what gear they would’ve been issued or carrying?

.....2/11 ACR, Fox Troop, a group of us clowning around after a field excersize at Graf, 1982. I was in my mid 20's then. Not sure I remember being that young! I was a scout. The tankers didn't dress that much different than we did. If  I remember, some of them wore short coats or tanker jackets. Most just wore BDU's or Greens and green coveralls over those. Now, for weapons, if you could find one, our unit still issued the old "Campbell's Soup" grease guns to tankers. Along with the venerable old 1911A1. A lot of us would wear W German issue Infantry or Tanker boots instead of our issue boots. Someone may recall it differently, I don't remember tank crews being unlike everyone else. 

1939473_564080607040068_2010811807_n.jpg

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What a great photo and what a great  combination of uniforms!  I hesitated to wear my BDU'S in the field... they were expensive  compared to the OG-107s and hard to find for awhile. 

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  • 10 months later...
Leroybrownwashere
On 3/20/2009 at 9:00 PM, gwb123 said:

Maybe someone will do a screen adaptation of Team Yankee by Harold Coyle. It was the story of WWIII in Europe which never happened.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Yankee

I am surprised someone had the same idea as me....A more realistic version than Band of Brothers was would be amazing. 

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  • 2 months later...

Some of the PT uniform comments made me laugh! 

We got a new battalion commander in 1976 and he wanted a certain look when we did PT as a battalion. The battalion footed the bill for our 16th Infantry sweatshirts . Still have mine but it's shrunk! We were stationed at Panzer Kaserne.

774896827_IMG_20221104_103407924_HDR2.jpg.802e9ab83815e1097f9a7fc24cad940d.jpg

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