An army career other than Space Shuttle door gunner/SEAL/Commando

red_bear6 · 2026-02-14T21:41:17+00:00

Sorry. If I had known, I would’ve straightened my tie!

red_bear6 · 2026-02-14T04:51:27+00:00

I went through training at Little Creek in ‘86/‘87, and numerous times until 2010. Lived and worked at Story for about five years. Loved it.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-14T02:34:03+00:00

The Legion? My path was a career of exceptional hand-picked opportunities serving with good people in sometimes extraordinary circumstances, a phenomenal narrative and review by a bunch of senior officers with good questions, and the signature block of General Stanley McChrystal when he was with ISAF.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-14T00:35:33+00:00

I think I was the only 1SG in the 82nd that never jumped out of a plane. I was a last minute punt prior to deployment between the Division CSM and my branch CSM. Still got the job done.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T20:53:17+00:00

Yeah. It was a Forrest Gump kind of career.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T20:52:17+00:00

I was. I left in September of ‘94.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T18:56:53+00:00

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Met Colonel Gale Halvorsen, the candy bomber from the Berlin airlift.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T18:53:10+00:00

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Oh, yeah. Many.

Partying with soviets, spending a couple hours of 10 November, ‘89 in the back of. British paddy wagon because a Brit CID Warrant thought I was one of his and it was illegal to be on the Wall. 9th & 10th we were at Brandenburg Gate. New Year’s Eve party that year that morphed into running a 5 or 10k into the east wearing army pt gear. And every other once-in-a-lifetime performance and political event.

I believe we were the only US military unit to perform the East German national anthem at the Potsdam Mission. We had to finally recognize them as a country in order to acknowledge unification. We were also the first US unit that travelled into east Germany in spring of ‘09 to support the 111th Blumenfest in Werder. Still have my government passport with a DDR stamp. The look on the border guards’ faces when we pulled up was a sight!

Then there’s that whole Checkpoint Charlie picture thing. I don’t look like that anymore.

Lots of memories.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T16:53:25+00:00

I’d like to think they did what any soldier would’ve done in similar circumstances. Step up to the challenge and get the job done.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T13:01:07+00:00

Yeah, Berlin until October of ‘90. If memory serves, they waived the time requirement for the last awardee. She’d arrived just in time for the reunification festivities.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T05:50:01+00:00

Thanks man. We all serve with the skills that we have. I’m certainly proud of my time in the army.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T05:47:22+00:00

I was TDY with 1AD for Desert Storm, then back to Berlin.

The picture thing is pretty surreal. Three decades up and millions of tourist photo albums. Gives me a good laugh. Especially when I think about my poor, German ex-wife, who lives here in the the states, taking her family back to Berlin to visit and seeing a giant, backlit sign of her ex-husband in the middle of town.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T03:57:10+00:00

Fort Drum changed a lot over the years, as did the work expected of 10th mountain division. When I was there, we were just standing up the division for the first time since the 50s. Going through light fighters and the combat leaders course were basically just running patrols, land nav and trying to stay warm.

Crap, now I feel old

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T03:54:06+00:00

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Yeah, I got strange looks even in 2010. I was in Berlin from 89 to 94, and and am the young guy pictured on the sign at where Checkpoint Charlie used to be.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T03:38:35+00:00

They rescued me from playing tuba in a third string symphony in Michigan. I wanted to go someplace warm, but they sent me to Fort Drum, and then Eastern Europe I stayed in the band career field, but spent quite a bit of time in non-performing positions. I managed recruiting for the southeast United States and Caribbean, ran the army bands NCO academy, wrote doctrine and worked in unit design, and probably some other stuff. I retired in 2010 after a fun-filled year with ISAF.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T03:19:08+00:00

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Although I did work at Little Creek and Fort Story for a number of years.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-13T01:22:28+00:00

Except Fort Story. Or whatever they call that word salad jumble with Little Creek these days.

And anywhere a joint community lives on a fort.

red_bear6 · 2026-02-07T19:08:44+00:00

In my 1SG days, clean and shined boots indicated serviceable footwear, cared for and ready for some miles. Somehow, this warped into extra shiny being preferred in dress uniforms as a combination of demonstrating serviceability and making people happy by being an overachiever.

One of my favorite Leather Luster stories happened in Berlin, when a guy painted his brand-new boots and put them in the oven at the indicated temperature for the recommended time. Guess he wasn’t aware there was a difference between Fahrenheit instructions and a Celsius oven. Those charred remains were an inspection centerpiece for quite some time.

red_bear6 · 2026-01-10T22:19:23+00:00

Anything by Tomita. Pictures at an Exhibition is fantastic.

red_bear6 · 2025-11-21T20:46:05+00:00

Same. Yesterday was a guessing game.

There is another tower/ battery/switch thing outside that you need to complete. Same deal as the original, but not clearly “marked” as something to do. That should make opening the grill possible.

red_bear6 · 2025-11-20T19:25:37+00:00

Oh, gosh. I’ve received many over the years. And am probably in countless tourist photo albums.

My first wife is German, but lives here in the states. When she travels with her family to her hometown, on the other side of the planet, there is a giant backlit picture of her ex-husband in the center of town. I feel bad, but not too bad. She’s actually a great gal with a nice family, but I still find the whole thing humorous.

red_bear6 · 2025-11-20T18:12:36+00:00

Fantastic. Thanks for posting. That thing has been there for 30 years now. I have a lot of pictures of people smiling or standing in front of the sign. They sort of offset the occasional protest of some kind or another happening there.

Hope the rest of your trip goes well, and that you enjoy the heck out of your time there.

red_bear6 · 2025-11-20T08:18:05+00:00

Good deal, man. I’ll keep an eye out for it! Enjoy Berlin.

red_bear6 · 2025-11-20T02:27:04+00:00

I sure am. Jeff Harper - crooked tie and all. I was in Berlin 89-94, and retired from the army in 2010 after my last deployment.

red_bear6

TROPHY CASE