Exploits of a Cold War Soldier is an anthology of stories taking place between 1958 and 1962. Second Lieutenant Ed Skillman arrives in Bamberg, Germany. It is his first duty assignment. He is the junior officer in the battle group and a bachelor, and, therefore, subject to all the vagaries that this lowly status avails. Life unfolds in a series of experiences that take him from Khabul, Afghanistan to Wieldflecken, Bavaria, and equip him for a career which extends to two tours in Vietnam.
To most Americans the Cold War appears to be a remote and distant period having something to do with ICBMs, submarines, and the Berlin Wall. History schoolbooks say little about it. Even popular slick pictorial histories tend to gloss over and minimize the Cold War.
What goes unacknowledged in the books and the minds of Americans today is the arduous service of hundreds of thousands of American military men and women in posts large and small across Europe for almost five decades. Without their service the Soviet Union would probably not have been brought to the bargaining table, Communism might not have collapsed, and the western world would certainly not be the one in which we live today.
At the end of World War II the Army found itself occupying a defeated Germany and facing a dubious ally in the east. As the work of rebuilding Europe under the Marshall Plan got underway, many American units simply took over former German military instillations. For the 3rd Infantry Division (3ID), which returned to Germany in 1958 (having departed in 1946 just after the war), its units occupied facilities in Aschaffenberg, Bamberg, Kitzingen, Schweinfurt, Wertheim, Wildflecken, and Wuerzberg.
Three generations of American service men and women served in installations like these throughout Germany. Former Wermacht installations became the homes for US Army units for decades on end. Some installations were occupied by a succession of units, reflecting changes in strategies, philosophies, and weaponry.
For many this period of 46 years hardly merits a footnote. Those who served during that time are thought of today as either peacetime or noncombat veterans or in some cases “Vietnam era veterans” as though the Cold War never existed. Nevertheless, in the minds of hundreds of thousands of veterans who served in a huge, unsung effort, they know that they helped create a better world.
We were ready for the worst and we won.
- From: “We gave peace a Chance” by Robert D. Martin, Cold War Times, 2003. Adapted by: LTC Tim Stoy, Watch on the Rhine, 2008
Currently there are no comments related to "Exploits of a Cold War Soldier: Prologue". You have a special honor to be the first commenter. Thanks!
Welcome to Authspot, the spot for creative writing.
Read some stories and poems, and be sure to subscribe to our feed!
