Nice site - lots of good memories. I served in Bn FDC for almost four years. Had the additional duty of Unit Drug and Education Counselor (piss NCO, what joy!). Somebody had to do it, I guess.

It'd be nice to hear from some of my service buddies, but truthfully, I didn't have many. Being married, having a kid while I was there, going to school, traveling around on weekends, and active in church and scouting meant that I was pretty much focused on activities out of uniform. Most of the barracks guys thought I was a narc, cuz I didn't party or hang out with them. Being tagged as the piss NCO was another barrier.

Loved Germany and Weisbaden, and would like to retire in Europe. So much history. Got to do lots of travel in and out of Germany, hitting France, England, Luxumbourg, Belgium Switzerland several times while I was there. Had a nice big BMW sedan as a daily driver. Zooming up and down the bahn at warp six is something I really miss.

I finished two undergraduate degrees while in Weisbaden. While I'm grateful Uncle Sam paid for most of the costs, it appeared that he wasn't going to commission me after the drawdown, so I "retired" as a SP5 to pursue a civilian career. In retrospect, it was a good choice, although I still regret missing the milestone of receiving that commission. Something I should have done, and did not finish. Oh well.

Some of the guys I worked with: 1LT Frank Mrak, CPT Ed Gaunt, CPT Chester (Something), SSG Steven A. McClain, SSG Santiago S. Arrona, MSG Smalley. After all these years, my brain has fallen out. Makes me mad that I can't remember more names than these.

My closest buddy, James Steele was the Chaplain's assistant. He was also a classmate, who inspired me to finish college while on active duty. I didn't get the degrees I wanted, but I did end up with something (as opposed to accomplishing nothing). After the army he went on to medical school and served as flight surgeon in the USAF after commissioning. He says he wasn't looking for more military service, but joined up to defer his student loans.

Another service mate who popped up on Classmates.com, was Norberto F. Ybarra who was a pal of one of the privates in my section. The guys called him "Yogi". I knew him but not well. He sent me an email awhile back just to say hi.