When one looks back into his or her time at Zweibrucken that person invariably thinks of the exercises that we had to participate in. Whether you loved them or hated them (and let's be honest-we hated most of them) they were a part of our lives and today they are part of the war stories that we tell when talking about being part of NATO during the cold war. The threats were real but the exercises were games-war games. Thank god we never had to go through it for real (at that time anyway). Not only did we practice for war, which did break out during my last year there, but we prepared for it and for the ever present threat of chemical munitions that could have been used against us by our enemies. Most predominant of those was Russia. Doesn't that make you shake your head? One of our biggest allies today was once the dreaded and feared USSR for which these games were primarily set up for.

Some of the exercises that you remember were the flight level exercises. These were the most common since they were conducted by your particular flight chief and they were conducted randomly throughout the duty shift. I usually enjoyed these because I got to turn on the blue lights and speed to the simulate scene and act like a real cop. However, in most cases the vehicle either didn't come equipped with emergency equipment or it simply didn't work properly. I remember a siren that you could only hear in the cab of the CUT-V and many bar lights that either didn't rotate or were missing a majority of the lights that it was designed to have. It was silly but we used them anyway since something was better than nothing I guess.

Squadron level exercises weren't much different but then there were the base levels exercises we all remember- The NATO TAC EVAL. If my memory serves and it is a foggy memory (blame Parbrau beer) these exercises could span for a period of three to five days and involved both on base and off base exercises that were coordinated with the other units on Zweibrucken to simulate wartime conditions. RF4G's served as simulated Mig's that attacked our base runway or facilities. The runway was a frequent target and the people in charge of "RRR" (Triple R or rapid runway repair) received quite an unenviable task throughout the games. OPFOR (opposing forces) were usually the lucky few who were near ETD (end tour of duty) and those other lucky few who got to play the role of the enemy (I was unfortunately never one of these lucky few). The postings varied-some were better than others but regardless of where you were you experienced the thing that you have been hoping I wouldn't mention-gas masks. Who remembers the long (some I remember were nine hours) alarms conditions that forced you to don MOPP gear and gas mask? Alarms yellow, red, and black. MOPP conditions one through five (possibly six-blame the Apfel Korn this time) and the wavering tone of the air raid warning. If you were lucky and in an out of the way spot like I usually manage to achieve you could simulate wearing the gas mask and even fake it on the radio by cupping your hand tightly around your mouth to muffle your voice while talking on the radio.

Finally, I will end this by telling you about a great time that I had during a five day exercise in which I was fortunate enough to be posted off base for. I have to be gentle with this one since my sergeant at that time is still in the Air Force and nearing retirement. I won't identify him because you never know with the Air Force but you all knew and respected him.  We were on day five of the exercise and we were all exhausted so the sergeant agreed to ditch the guns with a buddy in a fox hole and let us partake at a little gasthaus that we discovered in the German countryside. Here we were wearing all of our combat gear, covered in filth and sticking from five days in the bush, and wearing camouflage paint on our faces as we entered the establishment to belly up to the bar. We assumed that we would have the Polizie called on us but the Germans loved it and in typical German fashion they invited us in and gave us beer and boiled eggs. 

We were sworn to secrecy that night since all of us were at risk for a court martial but it was definitely worth it.

By: Brandon "Rick" Rickard