Well, which? Fulda? Hildesheim? Or Wildflecken? They can’t all have been that bad(!)
We were allowed one liter of the “Kloster” beer one night. Naturally I had two. My buddy didn’t drink beer so it averaged out. I still have the two mugs from there.
I also got the Schutzenschnur while there. January. Frozen fingers…
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Which one did you get?
I think the qualifications were done with the P8 (USP-9), the G3 and the MG3. Most people (from what i’ve heard from friends that have it), that you’d get solid quals on the pistol and rifle, but the MG was harder because of the ROF on the MG3 was something some soldiers wouldn’t expect (900-1200 RPM versus 500-650 RPM with the M60).
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Wildflecken. Better known as “Wildchicken”. I hated that place. Fulda, Graf and Hohensfel were fine.
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Well, I’m probably one of the few Brits who ever got there; I was in my last tour with the Regular Army (prior to my last 6 months in the UK) and I’d volunteered to assist what was then the recently formed Allied Command Europe (ACE) Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), which at the time was a somewhat modified former Brit HQ at Bielefeld, with most other NATO nations thrown in. It was still finding its feet and I ended up in what became Air Branch (hitherto the 1st British Corps Air/Army Aviation branch). This was all grist to my mill having been around more than enough HQs to make a difference (or so I liked to think), anyway, long story short: it was decreed that the Brit Army Air Corps units in Germany would undertake their annual fitness for role test in Wildflecken; in other words, a test of their TOW-equipped Lynx helicopters. This was unusual as normally they’d be tested at Hohne, or Soltau or wherever they used prior to the collapse of the Soviet opposition, the impact of the Gulf War and so on and so forth. To be honest, the British Army was pretty chaotic at the time (1993).
I was sent down to Wildflecken to coordinate all manner of things; one advantage of working with the AAC was that I went by helicopter, always a good way to travel. The task involved loads of admin, coord and with special attention to VIP visitors; as I say, all grist to my mill and nothing I couldn’t handle. That’s not to boast, but by then I was a fairly capable Warrant Officer with no small experience.
I was actually very impressed with the camp: the usual well-built Nazi-era barracks, and facilities which only the US can seem to provide. I was made very welcome.
The exercise, known as a TOWSTE (TOW (missile) Standard Training Exercise, inevitably referred to as “Toastie”, involved all 3 BAOR-based AAC regiments rotating through the ranges within a week’s time span. I can’t quite remember the details, but it involved the integration of what was then called the JAAT concept, “Joint Air Attack Team”, which meant the Lynxes fired their missiles within a tactical scenario, supported by a US M109 battery, and fast air from the Belgians (F16s), US (A-10s I think), and the Luftwaffe (Tornadoes). This was hugely impressive stuff. I noticed that the TOW targets were nothing more sophisticated than wooden cut-outs on rails, with an attached bucket of charcoal!
Come the VIP Day and I was pretty busy, helicoptering out the great and the good, including the 2 star Deputy Commander of the ARRC, by chance an Italian Major General, whose Clerk I had been when he was a mere Major – on attachment - at a Divisional HQ in southern England back in the 70s. A small world sometimes!
The great and the good also included a Brit Major General, who was the Director of the Army Air Corps visiting from the UK. As we trekked over to the M109 Battery, he espied a Hummer, which he hadn’t seen before. In his patrician tones as only a senior British officer can utter, he enquired of the US soldier who was standing next to it, “That’s a jolly fine vehicle, how do you find it?” The soldier said, and I swear this is true, “Sleeps three Sir”. Priceless.
As you can tell, I enjoyed myself at Wildflecken; apologies for the thread hijack(!)
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Still have my “Schützenschnur in Bronze” hanging in my living room. I was at the 1./PzBtl 83 the last 3 years of my service in the late 1980’s, usually driving a MAN 5 to gl truck. When I brought ammo to the range I had to wait until the guys had finished shooting (mainly G3, MG3 and pistol P1) but also other stuff. I always took the chance for shooting and had my record book always with me. So I was one of the very few Transporters who got the Schützenschnur … 
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You sir, are a winner. 
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Where would we be without our “good old army days” and their stories … 
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It’d be a very dry and boring website, that’s for sure, my good sir.
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I was awarded the Bronze. The MG-3was very hard to contol. But was an Awesome Beast to fire. I started to have flashbacks of "CROSS OF IRON"
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I tried firing the MG three or four times in 2002 and the 50 round belt was gone in an instant.
We were firing it for fun so it didn’t matter.
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I never had the chance to fire one. Never had the pleasure of working jointly with the Germans. I bet it would’ve been fun to try and qualify for the Schutzenschnur.
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We had a good time and spent alot of time on tank and small arm simulators.
It was surprising to see how common their training and day to day running was like the US Army.
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Did you guys ever go to the Monastary in Wildflicken that brewed the dark beer. Fantastic.
I mentioned that further up the thread. Kloster = Monastery in German. And yes, it was rarted first or second in the world at the time, depending on which review you read - Playboy or Penthouse.
I married a German and she had relatives in Rimpar by Wuerzburg. We visited that Kloster. That was some powerful beer. I was already out of the Army and working for AAFES at the time.
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No but I remember waving to it from the train window.
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