Traveling in the late 1970s and early 1980s
Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s I was a United States
Army Soldier assigned to duty with the Military Police (MPs) stationed at many
locations in Europe and the United States, but most of my military assignments
were in the European Theater of Operations with the MP Customs as an
investigator and later with the Criminal Investigation Division Command (CID).
When the mood strikes I write about my time in the military
and those stories can be found on face book and on the regular net under
bobbywayne remembers.
I always tell everyone my memories or my memories and those
memories are subject to the moment I am remembering those times, so if anyone
reading my memories was there and remembers the times differently by all means
tell us about how you remember those days.
Also my memories tend to leave out the really bad times and
may even tend to make the bad times seem like the good times, but am guessing
that is the way most memories work, so if you want just facts go read a fact
book and not my story about memories.
While working as an MP Investigator (MPI) and later as a CID
Special Agent (SA) I along with others worked very long hours enforcing
military law and investigating crimes against the military and those long hours
took a toll on our minds and bodies resulting in having to take some down time
in the way days and weeks off to recharge our energy.
My work as an MPI Customs investigator in Stuttgart, Germany
was long and tedious at times since my work took me out days and weeks at a
time with the Germany Customs Police tracking down military service folks who
were dealing in black market US goods to Germans who were not paying the taxes
on those goods illegally received from US soldiers.
The main black market items being transferred illegally were
alcohol and cigarettes but there were all sorts of items being trafficked and
all of these illegal activities did not make the German Government very happy
so the military had a special MP customs section to deal with those special
black market crimes.
When my work got to intense it was time to take a break with a
few days off on a German Rail Tour someplace in Germany or outside of Germany.
I would take a train to Belgium and Paris just to get away from all the issues
of dealing with black market crimes.
In the 1970s and 1980s purchasing train tickets from the
military for a German or European Rail trip was very inexpensive and the price
included the round trip rail, meals, hotels, and excursions at your
destination. Many times I would spend a week in Brussels or Paris and only
spend $400.00 for the entire trip unless I purchased something to take back
with me.
Trains are fun to travel on and I enjoyed each and every trip
with the German and Euro Rail folks and took about five trips a year to get out
and see the sights, those trips being three days to a week at a time.
My first train trip get away was from Stuttgart, Germany to
Brussels, Belgium and I must say the trip was fun, easy, inexpensive and very
relaxing. Took a taxi from my quarters at the Military Robinson Barracks in
Stuttgart to the local train station where I boarded the train for Brussels.
The train was quiet, clean, and interesting and I enjoyed the
sights and sounds of train travel all the way to Brussels.
During the trip we stopped numerous times but the views of the
country side, the food, drink and conversation kept one busy while the train
made its way to Belgium. Once in Brussels took a taxi from the train station to
the hotel that was included in my train travel and found the hotel to be very
nice and lots of Americans were staying there on their American Express
Vacations from the U.S... The ticket included three meals a day if you were at
the hotel and provided information on all the excursions from the hotel for fun
out and about.
This was a quick trip so I only took one excursion to Waterloo
Belgium to view the battle grounds where Napoleon was defeated. It was a day
trip and was fun and worth the trip to learn more than any history books could
have told me.
On return to the hotel I met with a lot of folks from Dallas,
Texas who were on their vacation, this was one of their stops on their two week
tour of Europe, they got one day in Belgium, I got four days. They were amazed
when I told them I was not on their tour but a soldier living in Stuttgart
Germany on a week off visit.
The trip to Belgium on the German Rail Pass was fantastic and
was one of the ways I managed to stay sane and not let the work get to me with
all the long hours, and of course the many strange issues that come with long
hours and black market investigations.
There is much more to tell about this trip and many others and
I will get around to them as soon as my mind reminds me to type about them –
Remembering The Good Old Days in Europe as a U.S. Army Soldier.
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