I was a Lieutenant in the US Army Field Artillery stationed in Babenhausen, Hessen, in what was then West Germany from 1978 to 1981.  The first picture shows a 175-mm self-propelled gun.  The battalion to which I was assigned had twelve of these guns.  They were capable of firing a 147-pound high explosive shell almost 33 kilometers.

The second photograph shows me at age 22, standing beside a mobile command post carrier.  We used these carriers as "fire direction centers," in which we calculated the data used to fire the guns at targets, which we could not see.

The mission of the battalion to which I was assigned was to provide "general support reinforcing" fires to the Eighth Mechanized Infantry Division.  This division was part of the US Army's V Corps, which defended the Fulda Gap, a naturally-occurring corridor from what was then East Germany through the city of Frankfurt am Main to the Rhine river and beyond.  This was considered to be one of the most likely routes the Group of Soviet Forces - Germany and other Warsaw Pact forces would take if they decided to invade.

In general, it was our plan to gradually fall back, trading space for time, and hold at the Rhine river until reinforcing units could arrive from the United States.  There were specially earmarked divisions in the States, called REFORGER (REturn of FORces to GERmany) units,  that would be flown to Europe and pick up pre-configured sets of equipment in Belgium and other port cities.  These were the units that would reinforce those of us stationed in Germany.

Although life in US Army Europe (USAREUR, pronounced "YOU-suh-roor") had its fun moments, it was a deadly serious mission.  We had to be constantly ready to assemble all our troops within two hours, deploy to "dispersal areas" near our home stations, and move to our "General Defensive Positions" on order.

Much of what is written about the Cold War seems to already be taking on an aura of "Tsk, tsk, wasn't that quaint?"  We should all remember, and teach our children, that we all lived under a nuclear Sword of Damocles for many years, and the fact that we are still here today shows that our efforts at deterrence were successful.

To paraphrase John Donne, "We also served who also stood and waited."