One of the company's in my battalion were out in the woods of Ft. Lewis and they were doing some night driving training. Their CO wanted them to ford the Nisqually River at the ford just below the bridge. A friend of mine was in the lead Humvee, bumper # 23, and called in that the water was too high from all the rain. Anyone whose been to Lewis knows the area I'm talking about and that November is a soggy mess of a month, cold, damp, pouring rain. So he calls in asking to simulate the fording and requesting to use the bridge just upstream. His CO said no and to cross the river. The was an argument between my friend, who happened to be a squad leader and his CO about the danger. His CO threatened him with UCMJ action if he didn't cross. So he told his team to unbuckle their seatbelts and undog the gunners hatch. The barely got in the river before the vehicle was swepted downstream. Our CQ ran up to our floor yelled alert and got me and another team leader and told us what happened and they needed searchers. We didn't even put on our uniforms just grabbed our boots and rain gear and grabbed the duty drivers humvee and took off to go help. It was low over cast and they were getting a Blackhawk launched to assist. So everyone drove down stream on both banks figuring they didn't drift far but what nobody considered was in the back of that humvee was a big airtight, foam filled case carrying a massive low light telescope that added a lot of buoyancy. They drifted more than 2 klicks downstream and got caught on a sandbar covered in fallen trees. The Blackhawk found them and when we got on scene you could see them standing on the top off the humvee after getting out thru the gunners hatch. They got the crew out with a helo but the had to wait a couple days to recover the humvee. It took several weeks to repair the rig and dry it out so it sat in our motorpool shop on jackstands. Somebody used tape and put "U-23" on the sides of it. His CO was removed from command for almost killing 4 soldiers and destroying a multi-million dollar surveillance system. What happened to my friend? Never lived it down. When he came into the office his platoon would jump up, click their heels and talk to him in fake German accents.

Like Russ, I can recall a great many mishaps, some humorous, some tragic spanning 37 years and still going lol...

I will relate one that occurred while I was in W Germany after we switched from Chieftain to Challenger 1s.

We were about a week into a Div FTX in about 88, and we had been on a road move to a holding point just short of the River Weser which we were going to be crossing via M2 rigs connected as a full crossing bridge.

Unknown to us, the Weser was in full flow and running very fast and a bit rough. We had an idea something was up as we were ordered by RMPs to pull over and idle on the side of a road just on the outskirts of a small village ( this is 14 Challengers in our packet alone and just after midnight - the locals were understandably not happy !!)
The holdup was because the M2s were having a really hard time staying connected to form the bridge due to the current. And this has slowed the whole move down and caused a big back log of vehicles and units trying to cross.
We had been sat on our wagons when the whole place lit up with blue flashing lights and ambulances and Polizei screaming past us towards the crossing point entrance about 800m from us.

What had happened was explained by our Sqn leader who came to each C/S to let the crews know.
While the M2 crews had been trying to stabalize and reconnect one of the rigs that had broken free, a high tensile steel cable that connected all the rigs together had snapped while under massive extreme pressure, whiplashed and almost severed one of the M2 crewmen in half (sadly died on scene).
When this happened, a medic from a field ambulance unit just in front of us was informed, who then proceeded to get his medic Bergen and run forward to try and assist. On his way, he jumped blindly over what he thought was a normal waist high wall, only to realise on the other side was a 20 foot plus drop onto hard stone. He broke his back but lived.
After we were briefed, we were moved to a secure parking area overnight and the crossing point was moved further up river which we did midmorning on the following day.

4 days later we were back over the same M2 bridge and then in an overwatch position doing a fighting withdrawal watching the remainder of the Div and German forces coming over to carry on the fight... Sobering times.

Just to lighten the theme a little - and I take no great pride in telling this story against myself.

In the mid 70s I was posted to a huge British garrison not far from Moenchengladbach; whilst the infrastructure was British it in fact housed 4 HQs - 2 x British and 2 x NATO.

As a single junior NCO and posted to one of the NATO HQs (Northern Army Group since you ask) I was ensconced within the NATO lines which meant we were largely left alone from the normal intrusive British military orthodoxy. I must just add that back then it was an open camp ie no perimeter fence or anything, in fact a main German thoroughfare ran through the garrison.

As is the wont of most young bachelor soldiers, once the camp bars had closed, around 11 at night, we usually found ourselves in a couple of hostelries in a German village around 5 miles away. One evening, or rather morning, after what was a pretty industrial drinking session, I realised that it was getting light and that me and my oppo had better get back to camp. We staggered out into the gloom looking for a taxi; now, back in those days, all German taxis seemed to be diesel powered beige-coloured Mercedes, with or without an illuminated sign on the vehicle roof.

Luckily, through the early morning mist, such a vehicle hove into view; we stopped it by the simple expedient of standing imperiously in the middle of the road, and clambered in. I spoke some German (my oppo didn't or was simply incoherent with alcohol) so off we went, with me burbling something on the lines of "JHQ bitte; gerade aus, zweite links" and so on until we pulled up outside our block.

Mission accomplished and time to settle up, "Was macht das?" I enquired. The "Taxi" driver, who looked somewhat worried, not that I had noticed during the 15 minute journey or so, said "Please, I am not a taxi".

We gave the poor German civilian 10DM anyway; hopefully he arrived at work relatively un-traumatized by his hijacking.

Brian

Mission accomplished and time to settle up, "Was macht das?" I enquired. The "Taxi" driver, who looked somewhat worried, not that I had noticed during the 15 minute journey or so, said "Please, I am not a taxi".

I named this topic because I never served the Bundeswehr, but only had some more or less pleasant encounters with US Army or Bundeswehr. Please tell your "adventures" or mishaps here for our entertainment. I tell my stories later.

ACTUAL Cause? One gun had set in the announced Quadrant for the volley, but NOT RAISED the tube from Loading Elevation and nobody checked to see if the bubbles were level.

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I named this topic because I never served the Bundeswehr, but only had some more or less pleasant encounters with US Army or Bundeswehr. Please tell your "adventures" or mishaps here for our entertainment. I tell my stories later.

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Hans-Hermann,

You do realise don't you that this thread will run and run, and then some, as us old soldiers garner our thoughts and share accordingly?

Brian