Vershina Cable

Vol. 22 No. 5

56th Field Artillery Brigade

Gmenl ~ Soldicn
Together this week we are celebrating tbe Gcnnan/America.n friendship here in Schwiibiscb Gmiind.
And this, right now, while the President of the United
States of America is in the Fedenl Republic of Gauwiy.
The visit of your pmident in the Federal Republic of
Germany should and will prove tha, Gcnnan/American
friendship is a reality day by day.
Furthermore, the visit of your president in our country i,
abo a symbol that we in Germany have bn able tO live in
peace and freedom for forty yean.

Forty years represents a generation and in the history of

Genmny there has never bttn forty years of peue before.
This is the longm period of peice in the ~ history
of Germany.
I would like 10 uy to you that only strong dcfensf aU;ance can secure this peace in a free world.
I would aJ.o like to say to you that the sa,e govemmm1
of Badco-Wiinumberg is standing I I your side wbea it is
necessary to fulfill your onlers 10 keep this peace.
Thank you all that you are here in Gamany.
You stand here in our country, Badcn-Wumcmberg, for
freedom and liberty.
Thank you.
R.oben Ruder
Suto Sccrewy
Ministry oHntcrior, Badcn-Wilmembcrg

May 1985

Newsline
55th qualifies
by Judy Mmrint
Th< air wu brisk and th slr.iu cloudy u
46 soldiers 1hroughou1 the 55th Main1<nanu
Banal.ion took to the rugged icrnin of the
Hohenfels training ma for their annual M60
and M203 qualificotjon.
The tbr-day excercises began by joining
uniu of the 214th Infantry in 'tmt city'.
Thtr<, SS,h soldicn w<n provided GP mrdium t.:nu, cou and use of 2/4's dirung facilities. EMly the nnt morning, we2p0ns w<re
loaded onto vehioles u SSth s<t out to the
septnte rangts.
For gunn<n and usistan1 gunn<rs to ,he
M60 machine gun, classes wer< provided on
che bui< opcntion and immedi11e acuon
procedurts of ,he weapon. From th<re they
m up their positions on the first firing range
to 1,ero their weapons. Following a hasty
lunch they were transponed to the second
range where they fired at stationary pop up
ugu from the foxhole positon.
Meanwhil soldiers who wen qualifying
with che grenad< launcher wtte provided
classes on their weapons and w<r< allow!

Re-up requires planning

to fire 12-14 rounds a piece to qualify.

According 10 Sgt. Jo.. Torres, NCOIC of
the ~tion, soldiers fired rounds from the
standing, kneeling and pre>M position at sta
tionary wgets on the range.
Later in ibe evening M60 gw,o<rs were on
the road again to another range wh<r< they
got the fI of firing at targets during night
time conditions.
2nd Lt. Joseph B. Twd, OIC of the
op<ration, stat~ that all personnel who fi.
red with tho M60 and M20) had qualified.
"Taking into MlCOunt that most of thuc soldiers haven't find thuc weapons in a long
time they did very weU. Everyone who fued
qualified. This i.s esp<cially good considering
the M60 is a hard weapon to qualify with,"
he said.
With the long day on the range behind
them, 55th packed their weapons and gur
early the ncn morning and wesc content to
nan their drive back 10 their respective
uniu; the mission complcicd and all soldjm
qualified.

by M. K. Diamond
Soldien tbink.ing about rnlisting
Deed to visit their reenlistment NCO or
rfflllinment m.ension NCO eifht
mootbs prior their ETS daic, KCOrding
to the 56th Brigade reenlinment ttten
,ion office.
This i, imponant for both mid-mmen
and fim-tcrmen, as Donna Davia, reenlisanent retanioa office scctttary
apbined. "For fun termtrt, if their GT
scores aren't hi&h <Dough for the school
you want you have time tO g0t to BSEP,
raise your score and come back. We can
then put you through again.
"For midtermers, they will usually
have an usignmcnt eight months bcfott
their term is up here.
"This eigbt moadu also allows w time
10 call your branch and get the assign
mmt you want, she continued,

Recnli1u,,en1 NCO for Delta Battery,

1/0, Staff Sgt. Larry W. Bunting elaborated on what CID be done within this
right-month period. "When we put your
name, ASVAB scores, sex and other personal data into the retain system, it wiU
kick out stateside areas of choice, overseas arcu of choice, schools eu:. you are

eligible for. It will not kick out anything

you are not eligible for. lf you want a
specific assignment or school, you will
ni1I have time to work it out.
Bunting continued, "If the rfl1in Sy
stem lt.icks out something you want, we
CID thtn lock you into that slot and
when it come, time for you to actually
rfflllin, you are guarcmd what you
want.

In addition to ,ming you cw:dy what

you want, this t1ght month period will
also allow time 10 m&ke sure, "You have
evemhing you need in your packet," ac
corcfing to Master Sgt. Fred Hamilton.
"You also need to make sure you've had
a valid physical within the put five
yean, and have a Cfflificate sip,ed by a
physician 10 r,rove it. You have to have
pustd your ut PT test and you mwt
meet height and weight standws.
These arc some of the m(t imponant
thin gs all soldiers need to be aware of before they ralist, however Hamilton
stressed, "The m0$t imporunt thing
these soldiers need 10 know is to plan
ahead; otherwise, who knows where you
might ~o or what the Army might have
you doing.

German soldiers reunite after 40 years

by Paulntc M. Daniel
Jun like parades, evtrybody lovts re
unions. We frequently cclebratt ten ,ytar
high school reunions, family reunion, &nd
so on .
Reunions arc wually held ro s bow
fritnds or family have changed. Usually af.
1cr lo or I , years there arc some changes
htre and there, but what about after 40
years? That is quit< a drastic time lapse.
Such a time lapse took place for eight
German Nationalist who were stationed te>ether at Hudt Ku.me, which at that time
'was an officer candidaic school, -40 yean
ago.
My 2 will be day to remember for
Wolfgang Wagner, Manfred Sauer, Ulrich

Plag, Wolfgang Schul, Augustin Feger,

Hemnann Sterr, Alfred Bauerle and Hans
Kramer; because on thil date they w<re re
urutI for the first time after training toget
her at Hardt Kaseme -40 years ago.
" h is a great fttli.ng being back here, but
the real memories of being here will catch
up wt'th me "'hen I rerum home, wapter
said.
Their group was met at the gate by Command Sgt. Maj. Malaki M;tchell, sergcsnt
major, 1/41 Fie.Id Artillery Battalion, 56th
FA Bri1;ade and Eugen Geig<r, Communjty
Cooor inator, G-S, 56th FA Brigade.
Mitchell and Wagner compared what wu
then 10 what is now. "There was nothing
here when we were stationed here before <ll

Schwabisch Gmund KONTAKT Club

receives achievement award
Kontalu Schwibisch Gmiind received the very ofun we worked from about 7pm
I985 Kontakt High Achievement Award until aher midnight.
or Group Development, May 22, from
Still, it wu a group cffon, and that
Maj. Gen. Fiala, CofS., USAREUR, at was what impmscd USAREUR when
the 2nd Annual Kontakt Awards Cerc they were deciding who would win the
meny in Dcidesheim.
award. S.pccifa recognition of the work
group that developed the connicution
h was a rematkable achievement for was mentioned, but so were: the F?~e
the club. Kontakt Coordinator Jtff Gr that htlpcd ckvelop the Board of Offi.
was able to rccruj1 more Germans and ccrs, planned special acuviti<s, and the
Americans, and after months of planning monthly newslener.
and preparing for cvcnu, the weekly
"We still have a long way to go, said
S11mmtiscb, and deve.lopmcnt of a club Geer, "but the new Kontakt Coordinator
constitution and a Board of Officers, is already on board, and when he offithey man.god to crcaic a solid organiu- cially takes OYC1' the program OD J uJy I.
cion.
he'll deftnitely have a motivated group to
work with. What is most imponant 10
Specifically notable wu the writing of the continued. success of the program is
the constitution. Geer said that while a new people and their fresh idcu. Kon
great deal of it was easy to lay out and taltt 1s an opponunity for everyone to
agree upon, it ..,u a real battl at time, 10 get out and enjoy their European tour.
come to an >grmcnt on some of the We will gladly wdeome anyont into the
most important iuues: we spc:nt almost club."
three monchs ironing out all of the dt
For more information on the Kontalu
wls, and then we had to decidt whether program in SchwiibiJCh Gmund, call
or not we really could accept what we Spec. 4 Lee Elder at 709 (aficr July I ). In
had created. Wt met most often on Fri- Heilbronn, call Spec. 5 Maran and in
daf nj~hu to work on this project, and Neu Ulm, cul 2733-6156.

May 1985

cept for the gasthaus across the street,"

Wagner said. AIJO according to Wagner they
were limited u far as where they could go
and they also had an evening curfew. "It is
much euier being a soldjcr today," Wagner
uid.
Du . th ,
f th b'U Feger no. , nng h ttr tour
h o e I cu,
th
= wat w ere t ey now room r to four
people, when they were stationed here, they
had 12 to 14 p<ople in one room.
"We had 1 Stove to each room which had
L
h . _, b
L ___
to uc ca<eo y coal DCC&ust we did not
have central heating," Feger said.
After the tour of the luseme, th reunion
guests ate at the Hardt Dining Facility and

then were taken on a tour of the Dining

Hall.
On their final stop of their 40 year re
uruon, the eight German visitors were re
cieved by Brig. Gen. Raymond E. H.ddock,
Commander 56th FA Brigade, at brigade
h 'quart- where ht welcomed and
...,
-~
conversed
with them in German and gov
them each a Schwabisch Gmund, S6th Field
Artillery lapel pin.

"l learn something new about Schw.ibiJCh

Gmiind with each visit to our luscmc, Mit
chdl d.
sa,

1 am v<ry impresstd with th< advancemmt 0 the kastme and the hospitality,"
Wagner said.

Bde soldier wins board

by Cynthia Baonu
The new Heilbronr:1 Community Soldjer
0 the Ycar took on the challenge to prove
be could be the best.
Sp4 Ed..,ard Wh.ite from Alpha Battery,
3rd Battalion, 84th Field Anillery hu been
in the Army for 26 sbon months and he bas
already proven him..lf as one of the best the
Army has to offer.
West Virginia native wu selected over 20
other outstanding soldiers in the Hcilbronn
Community May 21. He fim won the Soldier of the Quaru:r board for 3rd Battalion
84th FA in November. He then wmt for !us
E- S promotion board.
"I first staned going btforc theJ< boards
so that I could prepare for my promotion,
White said. Alier that I jun wanted to take
on u many challmges as the Army bad to
offer.

Whjte bu been studying off and on since

his fim soldier's board. "The other soldiers
that tried for soldier of tbcJ,ear were very
sharp", he said. "I wu grca y plcued with
mystlf. I felt that it was the greatest achievement so far in my miliwy cueer.
Each soldier wu challmged with questions that dealt with leadership. me. first
,id, buic soldier ,lolls, and several ocher
areas of military knowledge. White hu no
plans to make the Army a career but feeb
thJt be is benefitting from this <llp<riCOCC.
The 31CV9 Radio Tcletyp< Communication operator enjoy, hj, job, but hopes 10 be
a state trooper in Wesr Virgirua when he
completes bis tour of duty.
White's ncn challenge is the USAREUR
Soldier of the Year board. "I'm prcporcd for
this boud", be said. After that I go TOY
to the States for Army Solider of the Year.

"Child Find" searching for special kids

Child Find is the D~anmcnt of Defense Deaf/hearing impairments
Dependents Schools' (l)oDOS) cffon to Jo. Blind/vision impairrncnt1
caic children who have handicapping condi Deaf/Blind
tions and need indjvidua.l and al'Propri.ate Sp<ech impairments
special education. DoDDS ii snn:hlng acu Educable mentally handicapped
vely for th.. youngsttrs so that they may Trainable mentally handicapped
recejve the special education ihcy nd. You Seriously emotionally handica.ppcd
can help . .. If you l:inow of any child~n. Physically handicapped
including preschool children (infants to age Lea.ming Disabled
S) who hae any of the foUowing listed Multihandieappcd
handicapping conditions, plcuc contut the Health impairmenu
school.

Perthlng Cllble

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