Army Times

It is one of my favorite photos from our time in the Army. I say “our time” because that is what it was. I was the soldier, but Cath and I were both a part of Army Life. To me, the picture brings back the memories of the great joys, along with the intensity of everything in the Army of the early ‘80s.

 The photo is from 1982. I was a new Company Commander in the 34th Signal Battalion and recently promoted to Captain. We were at the Signal Corps Ball in Heidelberg. In Army terms, it was a “dining-out” – a formal dinner, with a speaker and dancing. Prior to dinner, we toasted the United States of America, the President, the Signal Corps, and our spouses.

 A military photographer from the 93d Signal Brigade (our parent unit) was taking pictures throughout the evening. Some posed, some candid. At the end of the evening, he asked to take a picture of Cathy and me. We did a “formal” one and then decided to have some fun. I grabbed a flower, tilted Cathy in a dip and he caught it perfectly. A young couple in love, and loving life. A few weeks later he dropped the photo off. 

 I look at the photo and I remember not only the evening, but that period in general. Being a Company Commander is a fantastic job. Also, a hard one. There were lots of long hours and deployed time. I was often tired. I remember falling asleep at dinner with friends at a Gasthaus one evening. Cathy poked me a couple of times to wake me up.

 The Cold War was a real thing and we were frequently near the border on training exercises. If the Soviets attacked, we were the frontline defense. A long life wasn’t necessarily in the forecast. 

 This was still the post-Vietnam Army and money for maintenance and training was scarce. Vehicles were often deadlined due to a lack of repair parts. Drug and alcohol abuse among the troops was an issue the Army was only recently getting a handle on. 

 There were plenty of good times as well. Cathy and I travelled when we could, both in Germany and to other countries. We partied locally with German friends, and also with the other officers in the battalion. If I wasn’t deployed or at the Kaserne, we were on the move doing something. 

 Maybe some of it was youth (I was 26 at the time and Cath was 25), but there seemed to be an intensity to everything – both work and play. For those of us in Germany, I think there was an element of living on the edge back then – preparing for WWIII, while also enjoying life to the fullest.

 Yea, I look at the photo and see the laughter in our eyes, the joy on our faces, the camping it up. I remember all the fun, and also the struggles. I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything and neither would Cathy. It is a part of what made us who we are, both as a couple, and as individuals.

We often look at the past with rose colored glasses. We remember the good times. We remember the happy times. It’s also nice to remember the whole story.  When I look at the photo, the entire experience of that timeframe rolls through my brain. That doesn’t happen with other photos from then. Forty-odd years have gone by, but this picture brings it all back. The good and the bad. The tiredness and the energy. The interesting and the mundane. The stress and the exuberance.  Not a bad return for one little photograph.  

Addendum:

• Here is a blog about returning to America from Germany in 1983, a little over a year after this photo: In June of ‘83, I returned to America after serving 4 1/2 years with the Army in Germany. At the time, the Post-Vietnam dislike of soldiers was still alive, a decade after the war. Returning to the States, I had a good experience at the airport that still gives me shivers today. It’s different now […] Continue here: https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2023/08/29/returning-home-from-germany/