Deutschland Diary. 2

Deutschland Diary 2

9/8//84

Today we left for Germany.  We boarded a 747 and took off.  Presently we are flying over Washington, D.C and Baltimore, Maryland.  We are supposed to land in Bangor, Main to refuel. 

All day today we spent being processed.  It amazes me how easily we all just follow instructions without comment.

Jerry Sonderegger got pulled out of line and had to empty his back pack.  The sniffing dogs smelled food and we were not allowed to carry food aboard.

Sunday in Germany.

After refueling we took off and headed towards Germany.  The plane holds 500 people by the way.

We crossed the Atlantic and I saw the coast of Ireland and an Island to the west and just the beginning of the coast line of England.  I was not able to see any other part of Europe because of cloud cover until we landed in Frankfurt.  I also occurred to me that I was the first McAnally to cross the Atlantic going East.

We loaded on some busses and took us to  Kaiserslautern or what they call K-Town.  We left of Gersheim but got lost.  Which was Ok with us since we saw a lot more of the country than we would have normally.  The fields are clean and the towns are mostly multi family dwellings.  Things are quiet modern, much more than I had thought they would be.

When we arrived at the base (which is small by U.S. comparison) our bags were missing and there was no place to stay.  We hung around the commanders headquarters for a long time and I tried to get hold of Verna, my cousin, but could not get anywhere in finding the phone number.  I even tried to get an overseas operator to call home but could not.  We ended up sleeping in a gym on post.  We had no covers or anything.

Monday  10^th

About 0300 another bunch of soldiers arrived without bags also.  They too slept on the floor.

When we woke up our bags had caught up with us.

Tuesday  11 September

We were transported to the mobilization station yesterday.  We made camp.  There are a bunch of people here and we have little to do.

My job assignment is sort of confusing.  I am not sure what my assignment is or how to do it.  We will not do much until Thursday and then will move to the Tactical Assembly Area.  It is dark, not sure what time it is, around 8 I think.  I am going to crawl in my tent and go to sleep now.