SQUELCHED

6 Squelched Free room and board in Deutschland. My new home was in down- town Augsburg at Infantry Kaserne, a few blocks from the Koenigsplatz, and not far from where I worked at APO 09112. Along with my Army postal buddies, I lived on the fourth floor overlooking the fringes of the city’s center. We were provided with private rooms, some rooms with two guys to a room, and some spacious rooms with four guys to a room. I felt like we lived in a hotel except that the walls were Army green, which was a constant reminder that we were really in the military. The marble floors and the hardwood floors were spotless. I felt at home, while in the military. I had some ready-made friends, a few bucks in my pocket, drinking bud- dies, all of us with a common cause. Be good boys and appreciate the fact that we were not in the Mekong Delta or at My Lai. Many months after my arrival at Infantry Kaserne, I asked a question of one of my senior officers. “What is it about that huge pile of brick and rubble at the corner of our building?” I was told that pile was yet to be scooped up; it was debris from World War II. Some twenty years later, Germany was still cleaning up after the devastation from the war. The Cold War had just begun. My monthly Army stipend covered most of my toiletry needs and daily consumption of the world-famous German beer … Löwenbräu. My stint in the military was awesome. Those guys serving their time in the military working as cooks or postal clerks had what we referred to as “dick” duty (easy). During times of war, mail call is #1 for all the troops, and during times of peace, it was #2 after chow at the mess hall. I thought I would rather be #2 in popularity in Germany than #1 in popularity in Viet Nam. The time passed quickly at Infantry Kaserne. We never had the regular Army protocol of reveille, as did other Army units at the Kaserne, nor did we have white-glove inspections of our barracks. We were completely free to do our own thing. Everybody wanted their mail, so we were left alone. I never felt so popular. While in high school, I was in a fight daily, and friends were scarce. In the Army, there was no fighting, no class struggle, and your grades in high school or your parents’ wealth made no difference. We all got along well and we all wore green, the great leveler.