Military
routine.
Military
routine.The orders shown above are for a routine military activity-- adjusting the sights on our M-14 rifles or other personal weapons, and testing the fit of our protective masks. In this era, however, the fit of our masks became more interesting to us-- civil disturbances could potentially make use of the clumsy, clunky gas masks necessary.
Our group was about as cheery as any group of men assembled at
7:00
a.m. on a Saturday morning for a compulsory activity. In spite of
the grousing, however, I do not remember anyone questioning the need
for
this preparedness.
Had I had any doubts about this, they were dispelled on my first
morning in Berlin -- less than a month before this exercise -- when my
Army taxi took me from the Rail Transportation Office to the U.S.
Command Headquarters via the Free University Campus, past the
arson-torched library building.