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Fifth Job of Bob - Army Part XI - Free time - Penetration Theory, McDopple, walk, bike, VW Beetle, schnitzel, "The Wall"
This entry was posted on 11/16/2010 1:28 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
I ponder once in awhile if I should have put more research into my own job history and the many peripheral forays that came along the way. Looking at old photographs to jog my memory for example. But, my photo taking interest over the years has sometimes been obsessive at times and then waned for long periods - albeit, I have quite a collection from my Army days in Germany. And, I never kept a journal either in those days of much use - I did however keep good notes in my later journalistic endeavors in Viet Nam and Iraq, but that does not help us right now. So, this whole damn job recounting thing from my early days is going to be from memory.
Raw memory seems more fun anyway. It is like reliving it the hard way. So, fair readers, old raw and often dusty memory is the best it will get. And, trying to remember my free time in the Army will fall under the rubric...dusty memory.
There is a school of thought in academia called "Penetration Theory." It talks about how people progress or digress in relationships. In a nutshell, you let yourself into someone else's life a bit at a time. Sometimes the relationship takes a step back, sometimes it takes a step forward. It is not brain surgery; we do it all the time in our daily lives.
My relationship with Germany fits into that "getting acquainted" Penetration Theory. At first I took it slow; I did not go off base much. After a few weeks, I became more adventuresome.
Ironically, one of my first exposures to German culture was the hazing ritual of sending the new "cruit" in the platoon down to the McDonald's to get everyone some chow. By 1974, McDonald's had firmly ensconced itself in the big cities of Europe.
Ich mochte ein Dopple Kase Burger und pommes frites bitte...zu mit nehman!
I remember being a bit under the influence of German beer and expelling flatus on the plastic seat in the McDonalds down the street from our barracks. It was a loud, egregious, presentation on my part. A couple German dudes sitting at the next table covered their burgers and looked at me with incredulous indignation, yet they grinned just a bit too.
One of the Comrades finally said, "Gut Gott in Himmel! Mein burger ist jetzt stinkend!"
The gradual penetration into German society took the angle of exploring Nuremberg on foot. It was an Old World maze - cobble stone streets; street cars; a castle on a hill; an old walled in city; a rich history linked to the Middle Ages. The city had been destroyed during World War II. The Germans endeavored to rebuild many of the old stone buildings as original as they could. I remember they kept a section of town in the bombed-out state it was after the War - it was creepy.
The walled city had a nefarious connection. Down on one side of the old city, part of the walled area sported the red-light district. Everyone affectionately called the area,..."The Wall."
"Let's go down to The Wall, man."
"Hey, man, where you been, the Fuck'n Wall?"
"Damn, brother, you need to get your ass down to The Wall."
One of my other little excuses to roam on foot was to find taverns that cooked up wiener schnitzel. That was not hard, they all did. In retrospect, perhaps it was the origins of my current obsession with Wisconsin tavern Friday fish frys. Dead psychologists everywhere between Munich and Chicago are rolling over in their graves.
Nuremberg was connected to the city of Furth. I heard while I lived in the area, that native German Henry Kissinger popped into his hometown Furth to a cool reception from his former countrymen. The verbiage to describe the area was like a small version of Dallas-Fort Worth, or Minneapolis-St. Paul, but connected by street cars. "Nuremberg-Furth" was the term often used to describe the metropolitan area on tv, radio, and advertising. I must have rode and driven by the Palace of Justice, about half way between the two cities, a thousand times but never bothered to go inside. It was where the Nuremberg Trials were held after World War II.
Anyway, Nuremberg was a bottomless pit of nooks and crannies. When I was there in the mid-1970s, they were building a subway. The tunnels were a great place to bumble around in after a drunken evening. It was interesting that we never got caught. Once we ran out of light in a tunnel and three of us had to walk holding hands to get back to light again. It was one of the first times I had ever been in complete darkness - like death.
To make a along story short, after awhile I bought a used bicycle from a buddy named Jimmy. In the spirit of "Penetration Theory," the bicycle construct came to be a step up from walking. And, having grown up in the country, I was quite familiar with the gonzo two-wheeled culture. And decades before American man-ginas began to ride about in Spandex, the Germans were blazing a bike path to that "green" culture.
But soon the angst rolled in, "Why is Comrade riding in style while I peddle?" That's when the VW Beetle found its way into my life. I don't know about my colleagues, but the irony of a bunch of American kids taking time out of their lives to defend the German homeland and at the same time, trying to bum a ride to get down town painted too much of a paradox for me. If shit ever did start slinging with the Russians up the road, we would most likely all die. Was it that much to ask for a beat up car to get around the damn place?
I bought Ol' Jimmy's cobbled-together '64-'68'-'74 Volkswagen Beetle. Good Ol' Jimmy; what a piece of work. If you haven't figured out, if you needed it, Jimmy could get it. He claimed to have come out of Connecticut or New Jersey or some such place. Most of us came to know him as clinically insane but manageable. He was a little guy with jet black hair and piercing eyes. He was the instigator of numerous bar-fights where upon once the authorities would arrive, he was predictably and conspicuously...absent. Non-the-less, setting aside the possible nefarious origination of the many jerry-rigged car parts, I bought the damn Beetle for the 400 Bucks my father was benevolent enough to send me - it was no-doubt a major endeavor for my steadfast Scotsman dad.
The year and a half I drove that yellow VW Beetle into the ground, it at least got some of us the hell into the German society at large - albeit often drunk. Hey, I was a cultural crusader even back then. I was however, always disgusted at how pathetically my colleagues managed their meager Army pay and could not scrounge up the funds for a cheap car themselves. The old beaters were ubiquitous and it was not that big a hardship to put together a few bucks for a car. These guys would spend hundreds of Bucks on whores, dope, and gambling, and hence at the same time, they sacrificed their mobility that would have cost a fraction of the price.
After getting to know a few main attractions in Nuremberg, I started to head out to towns and villages within a 30 mile radius, drunks in tow, to find my damn schnitzel.
It only took a couple of experiences with procrastinators for me to lose my benevolence. My Army buddies acted like girls in a shopping mall when it came time to leave for a tavern. Each one seemed to have some bullshit reason to be late - need some cigarettes; need to talk to some chum or whore; need to swing by the Post Exchange. Fuck'n A! It was then I started to lay down some "giv'n rides" law.
I set a time, you be at car at said time, or the Beetle train is leaving the station.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Staff Sergeant Robert Joseph Basham, 22, Kenosha, Wisconsin, died Saturday, April 14, 2007 at Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar. Basham was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 126th Field Artillery Regiment, Wisconsin Army National Guard out of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Several sources list his death as non-combat related. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Basham had volunteered for a second tour of duty in the Middle East war theater. He was first mobilized in 2005 for a year of service in Kuwait with Company D, 2nd Battalion, 128th Infantry. Soldiers from several units which included Basham's 126th Field Artillery, were assembled to join the 2nd Battalion,128th Infantry after it was activated for duty. When he was killed, Basham was working with a Kansas National Guard unit whose mission was in Iraq. Basham attained Staff Sergeant status at a relatively young age due to his leadership qualities. While he worked security for Camp Virginia in Kuwait, Basham was promoted to squad leader. The Journal Sentinel went on to mention that Basham attended field artillery school in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Basham became a forward observer in the 126th Field Artillery, where he helped direct fire when the battery was firing its large guns. Aside from Kuwait and Qatar, Staff Sergeant Basham participated in patrol duties in Iraq. The Web site iraq.pigstye.net (a data base for war casualties) noted via information from WFRV out of Kenosha, Wisconsin, that at the time of his death Robert Basham was at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar which is a base that provides rest and relaxation to soldiers who have served in Iraq. Qatar is a small emirate off Saudi Arabia. Wisconsin 2007 Senate Joint Resolution 63 notes Robert Basham was born on May 4, 1984. Robert was a 2002 graduate of the Kenosha Military academy in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There he achieved the rank of Cadet Battalion Commander and served on the Color Guard. At the time of his death, Robert Basham was survived by his parents Mitchell and Nora Basham; brothers Brian and Christopher; and, sister Jennifer Basham. Robert Basham was the 72nd Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Iraq since March of 2003. It was also noted that at the time, Basham was the eighth Wisconsin National Guardsman to die in the Iraq theater of war.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
98,691 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,780 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,432 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1379 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
827 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
31,988 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,240 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
103 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
24 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
144 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
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