Personal Article-My Experiences during REFORGER.

While with the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, I participated in two REFORGER excercises (1982 and 1983). REFORGER stands for Redeployment of Forces to Germany. At that time, certain Army units were designated as immediate reinforcements to Germany in case of a war. These units included the 2nd Armored Division, 1st Infantry Division, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment and, I believe, the 4th Infantry Division.

These units, in addition to their normal set of equipment, had a second set of equipment stored in Germany. This equipment was maintained by West German civilian contractors at what was known as POMCUS sites (Pre-positioned Overseas Material Configured to Unit Sets). The POMCUS equipment was an exact match of the equipment we normally trained with. The 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment's POMCUS site was near Kaiserslautern (hex 2,106 ), west of the Rhine. I also believe that the 1st Infantry's POMCUS site was there as well. Needless to say, it was believed that if the Soviets decided to use nuclear or chemical weapons that these sites would be high on their target list.

I was assigned to the Regimental S-2 (Intelligence) Section as an assistant RS-2 for the 1982 REFORGER. In that capacity I would operate from the Regiment Tactical Operations Center (TOC) assisting the RS-2 with the analysis of intelligence reports and evaluations of what the "enemy" was doing. For the 1983 REFORGER, I was the Regimental OpFor (Opposing Forces) and Security Officer operating with the Regiment Tactical Advanced Command Post (TAC). The TAC would act as the regimental headquarters allowing the Regimental Commander to lead from the front. We would be forwarded information from the TOC. See 1Lt Breed in Germany..

During both REFORGERs, civilian airliners were used in addition to military aircraft to transport us to Germany. My first flight was on a 747 and we officers got to ride in first class. The flight attendants treated us as if we were paying customers (I am not sure what compensation the airlines got for those flights). If my memory serves me, we flew into Ramstein Air Base (which is near Kaiserslautern) and went by bus to the POMCUS site. Bus ride from Ramstein AB to POMCUS near Kaiserslatern.

After drawing our equipment, we loaded it on trains for transport to our staging area near the Inter-German Border (IGB). Rail loading for trip to staging area. I believe that it was somewhere near Fulda (hex 130, 179). The next few of pictures were of villages/towns that the train went by on our way to the staging area IGB Rail trip, village #1. IGB rail trip, village #2. IGB rail trip, village #3.

The remaining pictures were taken during the excercise. Unfortunately, operating with the TOC did not allow me opportunities to get any "combat" pictures. I was able to take some pictures while we were moving the TOC (M577 command vehicles, gamma goats, etc.) from one location to another. I took these pictures to remind me of what the German terrain was like. You will see that there was plenty of tank country. These pictures will reveal that much of the open areas were rolling terrain. Note the distance between vehicles while moving through open country and through towns. German Terrain #1. German Terrain #2. German Terrain #3. German Terrain #4. German Terrain #5. German Terrain #6.

In that terrain, a tank force would be visible as it rolled over one rise and, then, it would disappear as it travelled into a dip only to reappear closer than before at the next rise. Although, ATGMs use a HEAT warhead making a shot at any range equally effective, I think that HPS was justified in making the extended range shot (two hexes) a reduced percentage shot as the ATGMs would possibly lose their target when the tank rolled down into the dip. Plus, sabot rounds lose their effectiveness at greater ranges.

Usually, the Regimental TOC would set up on a wooded hill. Regimental TOC Site. This was to give us concealment and provide a high position to maximize our radio transmittion range. These hills would also act as good defensive positions offering pretty decent fields of fire. Good fields of fire.

I, also, got some pictures of E Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3d ACR crossing a bridge in one of the towns we were maneuvering through [pictures 15 - 17]. E Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3d ACR #1. E Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3d ACR #2. E Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3d ACR #3. Note that the vehicle commanders use hand & arm signals, in this case, indicating a left turn coming up. On both ends of the bridge there are tower/guard houses. These building still exhibited combat scars from World War II. If memory serves me, our TOC was located on a wooded hill adjacent to the town.

You can see the bumper number (E31) of the M113 in picture 17. The letter indicates the troop (E) and the first number (3) indicates a vehicle from 3d platoon with the "1" indicating that it is the platoon leader (in non-cavlary units a "6" would indicate the leader's vehicle, i.e. C26). A cavalry troop had three platoons each with a platoon leader's M113, two scout tracks (M113), two TOW vehicles (M150 - pre M901 ITV), and four M60A1 tanks. The tank company had 17 M60A1s (three platoons of five tanks each). There were three cavalry troops and one tank company per squadron.

West German Polizei escorted our convoys everywhere. In addition, when travelling on the highways at night we had big flashing orange lights on our vehicles. One of our cavalry troops had a couple of tanks get separated from the rest of the convoy one night while moving down an autobahn. The trailing tank had two cars plow into it. It seems that two cars were racing each other. As the first one came over the hill, it plowed right into the rear of the tank. The second car hit the side of the tank as it was trying to pass the first car. It was determined that they were going in excess of 100 miles per hour when they hit. When the Polizei arrived, they asked the crew why they stayed in the tanks after the accident. The crew answered that it wasn't safe out side of it! The tank only had minor damage.

One day, I was allowed to walk down into the town to get some bread. On the way back up, I saw a man picking apples from his tree in his front yard. I decided to practice my high school German with him and said hello. He was very friendly and tried to make conversation as well. We mostly smiled at each other. But, before I left, he insisted that I take a bag of his apples. That basically summed up how they treated us there. They were always friendly, especially the closer we were to the IGB.

During the first REFORGER, our Regiment was going up against a West German (WG) unit. So, as an intelligence officer, I studied the WG doctrine. The night before the offensive started, one of our patrols chased away a WG patrol and discovered a map overlay that appeared to have their battle plan on it. When we began our analysis, I kept telling my major that it had to be a fake, because it did not follow their doctrine. During the night we kept getting reports that started confirming more and more of the map deployments. I kept saying it could not be right, but by early morning they had me convinced. Then, the battle begun and revealed it as a deception. The WG's were sticking to their doctrine. I do not know how much it affected our planning as I was not involved with the briefings, but it goes to show how a good deception can be executed.

It was our turn on the second REFORGER to create a deception. We were the Orange Force (bad guys) attacking from the East. The night before the offensive started, we moved the TAC about ten miles away from where we were going to attack from. It was our job to create fake radio traffic to make the Blue Force believe we were miles away. As we had just gotten digital radios, all we had to do was hit the transmit button often. At that time, only regiments and higher had digital radios, so the Blue Force would see that a frequency was being used by an upper level formation. The digital radios allowed us to talk without having to encrypt our transmittions. When we keyed the mikes, someone trying to listen in without a coded digitized radio would only see that someone was transmitting and get white noise. Lower formations still could be listened in on by the enemy. We stayed in one spot that I believe was near hex 142 93 (I was told that this was the highest point in central West Germany), so that they could trianglate on us. Early the next morning we rejoined the TOC.

When we launched our attack we had achieved a breakthrough by the next night. The breakthrough was only about a troop (company) wide, but the Regimental Commander pushed everything he had into that hole. As "damaged" tanks were considered repaired he sent them to the hole. By the third day an administrative halt of several hours was called. The controllers claimed that they needed time to sort things out. And, both sides could not advance East or West depending on which side, but they could move North-South in the territory they controlled. So, obviously, the Blue Forces were able to reinforce the penetrated area effectively stopping our drive.

One of the things that I had learned in that exercise was that their were too many units for the available radio frequencies. Every unit would be stepping on some other unit's frequency. One day our intel frequency was very close to a tank or cavalry platoons frequency. As we had digital radios, they could not hear us talking, but we could hear them. It was very annoying trying to send a report and have it interferred with by a platoon leader telling his tanks where to deploy: "move more to the left...get by that tree...no, the other tree". So, it is not just electronic warfare that hampers radio communications.

We had to have work crews follow or units around to clean up after themselves. We were told that damaing a live tree was a substantial fine. Farmers were compensated for the damage to their fields. Towns were reimbursed for damage to their curbs and roads. I believe that we had special financial groups going around and writing vouchers reimbursing the people on the spot.

At the end of both exercises the Regiment deployed to Uber Hammelburg (hex 124 112). While cleaning our equipment, soldiers were granted leaves to go on supervised tours and we were free to go down to Hammelburg (hex 123 112). Cavalry troopers being what they are, are a little more entertaining when out on the town than normal soldiers. So, when we came back in 1983, the town council had a meeting with the Regimental Commander providing him with a list of rules for our troops when they come down to town. They indicated that our troopers could only come to town in groups supervised at all times by a senior NCO or officer. A curfew would be in effect at 10:00PM. The Regimental Commander listened very politely to their demands and, after they left, he put the town off-limits. We had beer tents and bus tours to other cities for the troops, so they were basically okay with it. Two days later the town council had another meeting with our Regimental Commander and they welcomed us with open arms indicating that no restrictions would be made on troops visiting their town. I guess they figured the disruptions to their lives was worth the extra income 5,000 troops would provide while there for a month.

Hope that you found the pictures and my accounts of the events during the REFORGERs interesting.

Regards,

CptCav