When we stepped into the Operations room, I was overwhelmed. There were Americans, Canadians, Germans, sitting in front of radar screens, phones ringing everywhere, beeps and sounds left and right. Stefan reminded me that we were in the middle of SYSEVAL, and that everyone is really busy, highly concentrated and we shouldn't be in anyone's way. Somehow I ended up being introduced to a Capt. Nelson, a very nice U.S. Air Force Captain in charge of a station called "Intel". I soon learned that the Intel guy was responsible for gathering, analyzing and filtering all sorts of intelligence material. This was Top Secret stuff, there were spy photos taken from extremely high altitudes, possibly satellites, yet still showing remarkably sharp images of some airbase, with personnel looming around what looked like MIG aircraft, pinned to a wall. There was also a map, one of those plexiglass ones, like the ones airmen write on in mirror letters from one side, so the people on the other side can read what they write. This one was attached to the wall though, and it showed a map of Central Europe. In some spots stuck translucent plastic pins, that looked like little parachutes. Capt Nelson explained to me, that he wanted me to pin these markers at locations he would give me the coordinates for, and that they represented nuclear bomb explosions. There were light blue pins, and there were light red pins. Light blue were "ours", light red were "theirs". This is when I heard the term "Fulda Gap" for the first time. At the time all this was top secret, and I could not talk to anyone outside the ops room about this. Now, there is no Fulda Gap anymore, well at least not from a strategic NATO and military point of view, but I learned the cruel and relentless reality of military and nuclear strategy that was followed at the time, and I was glad, that it was a) only an exercise, albeit a very realistic one, and that b) I was safe in one of the strongest, and most heavily guarded and defended military complexes in the Western hemisphere.
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| The old stations shortly before being dismantled |
At some point the "tapes" that were used to simulate an all-out-war attack by a hostile power in the East were paused, and we retreated to a conference room to a debriefing and to recap the day's events and performance. This is where this photo was taken... I'm in the back on the right, half way hidden behind Uffz Martin Staffeldt, a guy incidentally from Celle, not far from where I grew up and my predecessor Stefan. I also learned, that Capt Nelson's (sitting, second to the left next to Col Kluss) first name was Anthony or as everyone called him, Tony, and that he would be promoted to Major not long after. Major Tony Nelson of the U.S. Air Force. I don't think we had a Jeannie among our female crew though. In any case, a very nice guy to work with and for. He transferred at some point not much later and was replaced by Major Carol Sykes, also a tremendously capable and nice officer.
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| The crew of SOC 3 during SysEval 1989 - Col Heinz Kluss in front center |
Capt Nelson's main assistant was TSgt Forace MacDaniels, sitting at the table on the far right. Next to him is TSgt, later MSgt Lewis O'Bryant, or "OB" as everyone called him, my immediate supervisor and boss for the next two years. Not the easiest fellow to work for or with, but he did teach me a lot, especially about desktop computers and MS DOS, which were relatively unaccessable to the ordinary person back then.
The crew was a highly effective mix of Americans (Air Force and Army, since ground based air defense was the Army's responsibility in the U.S. military), and Germans. I still remember our CO, LCol Rudy Zeller, who later told exciting stories of his time as a fighter pilot, LCol John Walker, our DO, MSgt Williams, one of the very excellent fighter techs, Maj Harald Gebauer, also a former fighter pilot. I also learned, that some of the SOC3 staff tragically, and needlessly had lost their lives, when terrorists brought down PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie a few years before.
At one point during the briefing, I heard my name called by Col. Kluss. I stepped forward and he introduced me to everyone, and - unlike anything I've ever seen before - I was welcomed by everyone, from Airman, Sergeant to Captain, Major and Colonel with cheerful applause. I think I will like it here, I thought. Then Col Kluss surprised me, because he had received my promotion orders, and right there and then, I received my "Unteroffizier" promotion certificate and shoulder sleeves.
In the weeks and months that followed my first week at SOC3 and Syseval, I was mainly working from the Admin offices, across the hall from LCol Rudi Zeller, the German CO, and Maj Nelson, the Intel Officer, picking up messages from the Comm Center, and sending out messages by typing them on NATO forms and taking them to the cheerful RAF chaps. Every now and then I would descend into the bunker and visit the guys down below. The atmosphere was very casual, even amongst the officers, soon I would be on a first name basis with some of them, except of course for the DO, LCol Walker, and the most senior officers.
I enjoyed the time at Boerfink, especially the NATO mess hall or "chow" hall, as it was jokingly called by the Americans. The U.S. cooks made the best damn omelettes I ever had. Hot damn, with cheddar cheese and ham. I still remember what they looked and tasted like.
