So if 150 Soviet/Warsaw Mad Cow heffers square off against 35 radioactive rowdy NATO Wild Boars, which one will make the best out door BBQ?
What are the ideal side dishes and adult refreshments for each?
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I had a very unique job, for a 10 years out of 24, in the army.
Most infantry units in the British army have a yearly parade, to celebrate the formation of the Regiment, (no2 dress or no3(whites) in hot conditions) and regimental days, colours presentations (Flags) old for new, depending on unit commitments
At the time. usually 2 weeks major preparation with small company run ups before hand.these usely have a guest of lower, royal family/ major generals / division commanders,
with small ones for, queens/kings birthday (none London),marching on square, pep talk by dignitaries, march off to messes, these usely have a maybe guest of lower, royal family division/ brigade commanders, depending on location and commitments
unless on London duties( no1 dress, infantry line units and ceremonial dress guards units) someone else can explain these duties,
only did a horse guards, divisional parade of massbands and drums once in London, and earls court tattoo.
When I went to the training depot, I did normal infantry training on all the platoons weapon systems, and was voluntary told, I have been selected to do Corps of Drums training as well.
Within the unit, I had a duel role,
1, normal rifle company commitments, as a platoon.
2, entertainment of the Officers and Wo’s and Sargent messes, some evenings and weekends,
with recruitment drives around the UK, with KAPE tours( Keeping the Army in the Public Eye ), school visiting, meeting and entertaining dignitaries local and when we were abroad.
Thats only some of it.
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Well, since we’re talking Cold War here - in Berlin there was a Kneipe called Klo, which is slang for toilet. They had a drink there called a “Russian Willy” that consisted of a test tube full of vodka that had had extremely hot peppers soaking in it.
And you had the “Russian Roullette” which was a wooden holder designed to look like the cyilnder on a revolver. It held six test tubes. Five were regular shots of vodka, the sixth was a Russian Willy. So you had to spln it, everyone took a tube, and you had to, without hesitation, down the whole thing. Seems fitting.
Edit: Well, apparently my hearing was going out even back then. It’s a Rostiger Willy, not a “Russische” Willy as I remember. But after all these years it’s still on the menu!
Warning! The Willy is spicy and hot!
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The real problem with nuclear weapons is the side that possesses them will use them if they are losing a conflict. There is no penalty politically, they were losing anyway. It will be punishing the winning side. The last act of defiance if you will.
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Those commie-cows are probably malnourished, skinny and tough so I’d go with the boars
German beer and French, Spanish or Italian red wine for those who don’t like beer.
Lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeños, maybe some lemon or lime to balance the fat with some light acids for the beer drinkers, depends on which wine is chosen by the winos.
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Another place in Berlin used to constantly have a boar on a spit. All you could eat for about DM 15 I think. No sides, no sauce. Just meat dripping with fat. Of course I visited often.
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Must have been in your area, didn’t see one around spandau.
I just love the way these topics “wander” 
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as if it was a mad cow… 
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I didn’t really have an area. After I got out of the Army the first time, I lived in Wedding, in the French sector. I still frequented Charlottenburg, Zehlendorf, Neukoelln, Kreuzberg, Steglitz and all of the other Bezirks. The Ku’damm is where the biker cafes were. Steglitz seemed to have the most hobby shops, although I bought most of my electric trains in the East.
Spandau - other than taking forbidden photos in the prison, I think there may have been a place called Eierschale. There were two back then. I know one was in Dahlem.
By subway or motorcycle I knew that city and its locations better than any place I’ve ever lived.
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You see this is the thing. You have tradition, pride. The WP parades were about intimidation of own citizens. Traditions were non existant, since everything that smelled of history was off limits. There was no pride in anything, only heavy equipment destroying roads on the 9th of May, smelling of gas (used to “refresh” the paint) each year. And if You dared to take a picture, Your in for a lot of trouble (not a huge problem since most cameras wer nearly impossible to buy). And Yes, parades were more important than real training.
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Now we know the truth of marching.
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The Monty Python sketch reminds me of my time in the Irish army reserve the FCA. We were on annual camp in a base near the Northern Irish border. One day we were brought out to the square where we were taught to display march to the Monty Python theme tune. We became very good at it but were never offered any explanation as to why. It was fun though.
We weren’t too worried about the Warsaw pact. We patrolled our border not against the British but against a certain well known terrorist organisation .
Mention was made of buying uniforms. We were issued with boots and a single No 1 uniform. If we wanted combat uniforms or web equipment we had to buy it ourselves. So we wore a motley collection of British, US, Italian surplus kit. Anything but Irish army issue. In fact anyone wearing Irish issue uniforms could be charged with stealing them. Yes, a serving member of the military could be arrested for wearing the official uniform… The reason given for this bizarre situation was that the people in charge were worried that reservists would pass on their kit to subversives.
It was a joke., laughable.
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That theme is actually a pice by an American composer, John Phillips Sousa, titled “The Liberty Bell”. He is also the composer of such tunes as “Stars and Stripes Forever”, “Semper Fidelis”, and “Washington Post”, amongst many other marching tunes.
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A small correction. The “plan” that the russians decided to share with the WP in 1964 was only something like 14 pages long. And YES, russia planned to attack all along, there was no deffensive plan. Courtesy to the Czech we know that they planned to nuke Bavaria with 130 tactical nukes and then send in the WP with a “plan” to reach Rhine on day 7. They even wanted the Czechs to do a combat jump somwhere in Mulhouse area. Russian troops were supposed to be the “second wave”. They didnt even bother to do a proper estimate of casulties. They estimated 10k wounded.
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