David Hartman Documentary

[Ted Jones Jr.]

I do not remember exactly, but I think it was Jan or Feb of '88. Killer and some of Mike were at Reed. David Hartman...the original host for Good Morning America was filming a documentary on the US Armed Forces. 2nd ACR (K-Trp & Mike Co) were selected to represent the army (imagine that!) A bunch of us were assigned escort duties for that goat rope. I swear I will post pictures within the week for proof.

I do not remember the name of the crossing, but there were the "jacks" and the red/white gate. There was also a gasthouse and a couple of houses near / within the 50 meter zone.

We had a Bradley cruising back and forth within the 50 meter zone and an M-1 or two within the 1K zone. You want ot talk about Czech brass and vehicles coming out of all sorts of places.

We were supposed to have an Apache do a flyby, but the weather was bad. Which would have been like seeing a Hind-G on the border.

Oh, during the convoy from Reed to the Grenz (during an ice/snowstorm) the cameraman got up on the M-1 and straddled the barrel and filmed.

[Patrick cavdoc Biddy]

Must have been in Feb. I was at Gates on New Years into Jan. 88 and do not recall any buzz up there about it.

[Pete Fahrenkrug]

I remember this. There were pics of guys in white camo. This was a big thing at the time. I can't remember where I saw the pics, but I remember there was a lot of them. I'll have to do some digging.

[Pete Fahrenkrug]

I don't remember if this was around the same time that a bunch of writers came up to the border and had a tour. Reporters from the NY Times and others were in the group. We actually had Redcatcher fly through and a Hind came out to play. This was down by the pink house in Reeds sector. I wonder if the place you talk about Ted was the place called Mom's?

[Ted Jones Jr.]

Yup, Mom's rings a bell, I have all sorts of photos, but I don't think the documentary ever aired. I think it was north of the "pink kaserne". Anyway, I was just talking about weird/funny things on the border. I'll try to post the pictures in a week or so, for anyone that wants to see what a charlie foxtrot that was.

[Robert Klink]

I remember that time frame, David Hartman was also on the Rock with Col. Steele. I still have pictures of them standing on an M-1 talking about the turret.

[butch white]

i remember that when he was on the rock, i still have the tape somewhere of the show he did of it..he was on larry king to promote it..man that was awhile ago...good days....they had guys with camera's on our M-1's..we were driving back and forth on the range at the rock just to get the shots...after we were done we sat around the tanks and talked with hartman..cool at the time...if i remember right it was a last minute thing that he came to the rock..

[R Stanbery "Stan".]

Yeah, I was there that day, in that Bradley. I was the RTO that the camera filmed during the dismounted stuff. The Bradley dropped the ramp, we dismounted, and walked around up and down the border trace for a while for the cameras. We were all in overwhites. Im sure the PS appreciated it all a lot!

The name of the show was "Early Warning, with David Hartman". It came on Fox, I believe, back in 88. The crossing was at what we called "Moms". Col Steel was there. Man, was that ever a cold day!

Ive got a copy of that on an old VHS. Have you got a copy? My mom taped it back in 88 when it came on TV back in the states. She taped it for me and sent me a copy to Amberg. Im almost afraid to play it for fear of the tape breaking. It is interesting, though. I played it a few months ago with my kids. Its odd to sit around with my kids and hear my voice calling in the spot report on the PS.

There was other segments there, like a battleship scene, some Marines stuff, some Air Force stuff, and some Submarine stuff. He filmed some good footage of the M-1s at the rock, and it comes off pretty good in the video. Shows them running and gunning. Quite impressive.

Hartman really did do a good documentary on the state of readiness at that time. I remember one of the scenes of Hartman sitting on the deck of one of the battleships when they fired the 16 inch gun. It nearly flung him off the deckplates. I think that he did a really good job on that one. I remember him being a tall guy, and pretty smart, too.