REFORGR-Germany 1978

REFORGR 1978 Germany

A major training exercise to Germany for the Hookers in September of 1978

Return the Forces to Germany

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Signing in at Paine Field

Our journey to Germany began with muster at our hangar at Paine Field.

Sgt Futch Keeping track of heandcount

Dotty Holmes signing in.

Dotty went on to become a Warrant Officer and Army Aviator. We warped her good.

CPT KrausReforger78.jpg

First Hooker Formation in Germany

Our destination was Manheim with a C Model active duty unit.

Colman Barracks Arrival

Doug Houser in front of our quarters

First Order of Business

Of course, our first stop was a beer hall to get accli

Giessen Army Heliport

During our time in Germany we set up at this small Army airfield and lived out of tents. An old WW2 German Officer's Club turned out to be a great watering hole that generated many a story, most of them that shall remain unprintable. We did manage to establish a record for the number of people who could pile into a jeep at 17! We impressed the armed guards of the nuclear storage bunkers we had to pass to get back to our tents at the airfield. Not only did we manage to have 17 Hookers on-board, there were a couple of crates of beer too. Major Krofcek disavoued any knowledge of the incident.

Giessen Hangar

From this airstrip we flew with our host unit over much of Germany as co-pilots in their C model Chinooks. We did have a little excitement while carrying a full load of troops on the Chinook I was flying when the #1 engine quit. We decided to land at Hanu Army Airfield. We let the tower know we were diverting there because of a problem. It took some convincing of airport crash rescue to not foam the helicopter and would they please let us taxi to their ramp.

Our formation at Manheim

Our formations caught the attention of our active duty unit commander on day one. His comment to our CO, Major krofcek- "You look like a bunch of g#d da&n M&Ms" in reference to our different color hats. Out appearance didn't impress him, but our flying and maintenance did.

Manheim Coleman Barracks