In 1977, my family and I were off to Germany. I was being assigned to the 2/33 Armor Battalion. (M60A1) Upon arrival I was given the position of Battalion S-4, or Supply officer, and very soon the battalion was off to a NATO level exercise called “Reforger”. These Reforgers were very big deals, and were held every year. They involved not only US units stationed in Germany, but US units were airlifted from the states to join the fun, along with British, German, and other NATO Allies. Unlike in the US where these types of activities are held on military reservations, in Europe they use the civilian country side. You can imagine the traffic jams etc.
While going about my duties during Reforger, I was going down a dirt road in my jeep ( M151A2) when I saw in the road ahead what looked like a set of Load Bearing Equipment (LBE). It was in fact LBE. It had the belt, the suspender like straps, a canteen, etc., a holster, and to my horror, a M1911 .45 pistol. Now if you are not former military you will not understand why I say “to my horror”. But, weapons in the military are very closely controlled. An officer was required to inventory all weapons in the company every day, and once a week inventory was by serial number. It was a real pain, but helped to drive home the fact that we were to safeguard our weapons.
As I stood in that dirt road with this .45 in my hands, the first thing I did was reach for my own pistol. It was in my holster. Whew, that was close. Next I had my driver show me his weapon. He had his. Next, I went back to the area where all of the battalion’s support and supply people were. By the way, we called this area the “Trains”. I suppose from early days when they had supply trains. After I was certain that all of the trains people had their weapons, I knew that this was going to get ugly for someone soon, but I had no choice but to elevate the search for the owner of the lost pistol.
A battalion has two radio frequencies, or radio “nets” that are used in the field. The first is the “Command Net”. This is used by the battalion commander and his company commanders for operational control. If you do not belong on this net, stay off. The other Net is the Administrative/ Logistic Net. As the S-4 that one belonged to me. So I went up on the A/L net and asked everyone to check their “sensitive” items to make sure that all was accounted for. I was still hoping to resolve this issue without “stuff” hitting the fan. Well, the battalion commander was listening in on the A/L net. Why was he doing that? He was supposed to be on the command net.
“Captain Bales” he yelled. (Name and rank on the radio, in the clear?) “What are you talking about? If you have something to say, just say it!” I swallowed and said, “Roger that. I have found a .45 pistol on the road, and I am trying to find out who it belongs too.” Now I have no idea how far away the battalion commander was, but I could swear that I heard, without the radio, what sounded like a herd of elephants on the rampage. Not only was our battalion shut down, but the whole Reforger exercise came to a screeching halt. Instead of preparing for the first battle of the next war, everyone was looking for the one guy who did not have his pistol.
It did not take long. Within the hour the owner of the pistol, a captain in our direct support field artillery unit (Self Propelled 155’s) confessed. It seems that while riding in his jeep he had taken off his LBE, and slung it on the back of the seat, and then it had fallen off as they drove. I will tell you now, that I never did that……..again.
What happened to the captain? I heard later that he had received a letter to go in his file. So, the message is clear………… don’t lose your weapon!
