Checkpoint Charlie 1985

This is a spot for posting those old photos of your service days, your favorite tractor, whatever...Don't be shy we all love looking at pictures! No Nekkid People though, this is a "G" rated site!

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Dsk65
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Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by Dsk65 » February 7th, 2016, 1:09 pm

Me working at Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, 1985
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rickf
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Re: Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by rickf » February 7th, 2016, 5:54 pm

A coworker of mine did a stint there and then moved out to the country patrolling the borders. He liked that much better.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
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12/1952 M100- Departed
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Dsk65
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Re: Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by Dsk65 » February 7th, 2016, 11:57 pm

I loved my time @ the 287th MPCO, but the schedule killed me... 7 days of days, 7 days of afts, 7 days of mids, 4 days training, and three days off... and they usually had a 24 hour alert the last day of training, so you slept away the first of the your 3 days off for the month!

Of course, I would take the over the middle east, any day!

Dsk65
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Re: Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by Dsk65 » February 8th, 2016, 12:01 am

I remember the two plum jobs at our unit was the Berlin Duty Train, and K-9 Sgt... My posting at Checkpoint Charlie we great, though... lots of tourists to interact with, and at 18 and 19 years old, I didn't understand the true historical significance of it all.

GerryM
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Re: Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by GerryM » April 3rd, 2016, 11:24 am

Glad it looks different .
It was different and looked different in 61 lots of excitement too"'

Tower Rat
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Re: Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by Tower Rat » June 17th, 2017, 11:44 pm

Dsk65 wrote:I loved my time @ the 287th MPCO, but the schedule killed me... 7 days of days, 7 days of afts, 7 days of mids, 4 days training, and three days off... and they usually had a 24 hour alert the last day of training, so you slept away the first of the your 3 days off for the month!

Of course, I would take the over the middle east, any day!

Hello MP !

I did one shift on Check Point Charlie 8) , just part of a 3 week TDY to the Berlin Brigade in 1983 , sorta a platoon reward for winning a company competion at Hohenfelds field training excercise , Berlin was a blast I and we (the platoon) enjoyed it it was a major stress reliever from our regular routine as Tower Rats, Rats at the 558th MP company North Point worked 24 hour shifts on a 9 day schedule so that equates to 24 hour on 24 hours off for 18 days :shock: :evil: :evil: and believe me the 24 off almost always was shorten to 12 hours due to any number of things, there was supposed to be a a 5 day break that we NEVER got :twisted: , probly the worst peace time duty ever , we even had a race riot in our barrracks on account of the stress and super low moral , oddly enough I look back with pride and honor for my Tower Rat days , has a differant look now if ya know what I mean, good to meet another former MP :D
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m75
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Re: Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by m75 » June 18th, 2017, 11:52 am

Oh Tower Rat!

After five years as Mech Inf 11B (before 11M was created), I re-upped for 95B in 1978. After another AIT at Ft McClellan, was posted to Ft Richardson, Alaska, where I spent my PCS at a Nike Hercules site, a Sergeant of the Guard with the Tower Rats, overlooking the Pit Rats. That name didn't really fit there in AK tho, as due to the permafrost, there were no pits, and the launching area was all above ground.

Alaska was beautiful, but we were in the middle of nowhere, constant duty 24/24 hrs, few replacements, and an absolute zero re-enlistment rate for all of the first-term MPs there. Not the "Adam-12" life they had been promised by the recruiters.....

C Battery, 1/43rd ADA (Nike Herc), NORAD
Jim Peterson
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1961 M151 -Sold
1974 M151A2, Working It!

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m3a1
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Re: Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by m3a1 » June 18th, 2017, 1:04 pm

Very cool. I did some checkpoint work myself, so I know what that can be like...though my personal experience included suicide bombers. My hat's off to anyone who walked the walk.

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Re: Checkpoint Charlie 1985

Unread post by Tower Rat » June 19th, 2017, 5:27 am

m75 wrote:Oh Tower Rat!

After five years as Mech Inf 11B (before 11M was created), I re-upped for 95B in 1978. After another AIT at Ft McClellan, was posted to Ft Richardson, Alaska, where I spent my PCS at a Nike Hercules site, a Sergeant of the Guard with the Tower Rats, overlooking the Pit Rats. That name didn't really fit there in AK tho, as due to the permafrost, there were no pits, and the launching area was all above ground.

Alaska was beautiful, but we were in the middle of nowhere, constant duty 24/24 hrs, few replacements, and an absolute zero re-enlistment rate for all of the first-term MPs there. Not the "Adam-12" life they had been promised by the recruiters.....

C Battery, 1/43rd ADA (Nike Herc), NORAD
Cool post, I dig the old MP talk! I never heard of a Pit Rat , the site I was at was just nuke munitions , nothing was ready to launch far as I knew, we even moved them a round a few times using nothing more than a Chinook for the weapon and two more Chinooks for the MP security force teams , odd thing about the site was that it was made up of 14 earth covered bunkers and one huge modern bunker, the earth bunkers were left overs from the Hitler's Germany if one took a walked outside the perimeter of the site you could follow row after row of abandondoned earth bunkers , very eariee to see :shock: , WWII war time germany was armed to the teeth . We had the same first term reenlistent rate a big zero , even my E-7 17 year career platoon sargent all stressed and got out busted to E-1 and then shown the door home, (crazy)......

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