What job exactly did I do in the Army? I was trained as a 62M20, that was my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). A 62-Mike is a Rough Terrain Scoop Loader, and Forklift Operator. At Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri I was also trained on the Bulldozer, the Five Ton Dump Truck, and the Road Grader. Once I got to my unit in Germany, as a 'cruit,' I had to mark time on an Armored Personnel Carrier crew. They were basically metal coffins with light tank tracks on them to propel them around. After a while I was assigned to drive one of three Five-Ton Dump Trucks in my company - it was not pretty but it meant some semblance of mobility freedom. 

   When one of the operators rotated out, I was assigned to one of three Rough Terrain Scoop Loaders in my company. For the first year there, I just carted it around on a 10-Ton Flatbed truck and trailer because it did not run. Finally, it showed up fixed one day and I remember spending quite a bit of time cleaning the snow off the helicopter airport tarmac, and also building target berms on the tank range at the Grafenwoehr training center. If you do not recognize the terms Graf', or Reforger (annual war games), you were not really ever in Germany in the military anyway. You have never changed a tire if you have not changed a tubeless Scoop Loader tire. They are about head high. The target range was full of shrapnel. 

   Once we trained with the Canadians. There were other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations in Germany besides we Americans. They also had Five-Ton Dump Trucks. The tires were always going flat. A big Canadian and a short one were standing on a breaker bar trying to loosen the lug nuts on the rear hub of the Dump Truck. The red maple leafs jumped out to the eye, off their uniforms and from the truck door. I noticed right away they were trying to loosen the nut the wrong way (reverse threads on the Dumps). "Hey, dare, try da udder way dare, hey," I said. "Thanks mate," they said as they smiled ignoring my jab.

   In the event the Russians attacked we were to lay in wait and destroy their route. We went out in the country to the designated targets from time to time to stay familiar with them. Also, we trained a great deal assembling portable bridges. We once spanned the Danube River (Danau). I remember how fast it was going under our feet as we dangled over the water to lock the pieces in place. I remember cutting down trees to make a stagging area for helicopters and Sheridan tanks. We were the Second Armored Cavalry, and we had an Air Cav unit and the rapid tanks. As engineers we made sure they had places to park their stuff. We also built some security fences. One week we build a baseball back stop for the American Dependant kids in Nurnberg. 

   We wore the black berets in the 2nd Armored Cavalry, 25 years before the Army adopted them at large. That one little symbol that set the 2nd Cav apart due to our potential suicide mission against the Russians, I thought was cool anyway. I served on active duty from November 1974 until November of 1977. From February 1975 to October 1977 I served that time in Germany. I never came home during my overseas service. That meant two Christmas days, two Thanksgiving days, three Forth of July days were spent in someone else's country.  "Toujours Pret" - Always Ready.

   This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Major Christopher J. Splinter, 43, from Platteville. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stated Splinter believed Iraq would one day be a model state in the Middle East. Major Splinter died the day before Christmas December 24, 2003, when his vehicle struck a bomb on Highway 1 near the city of Samarra, which lies north of Baghdad, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Splinter was assigned to Headquarters Company, the 5th Engineer Battalion, 1st Engineer Brigade, based at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Splinter graduated from Platteville High School in 1979. He later attended and earned a degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and also joined the ROTC program. According to the Journal Sentinel, Splinter graduated and earned his commission in 1990 and had been on active duty in the Army since then. Major Splinter had shipped out to Iraq in July 2003. Splinter had been married to his high school sweetheart, Penny (Barton) Splinter, for 18 years. The couple have two children: a son, Mitchell, 13, and a daughter, Rachel, 10. Major Splinter was the ninth Wisconsin soldier to die in the Iraq war since Spring 2003. 

   3,501 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.

   25,830 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.

   75 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.

   105 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.

Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.