Comments

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  John Lazaro August 13, 2023 10:05

  In early-mid 1983, the Company H, 1st Platoon Leader's name was James Martin.  He was later replaced by 2LT Curt Spaeth then 2LT David Smith.  Saw Jim Martin years ago in Bamberg.  He had resigned his commission, gotten out of the Army, went to work in the civilian sector (P&G I think), and then subsequently returned as a Warrant Officer then assigned to the 173 ABN BDE.  When I reported to the Squadron XO (MAJ Peter Schoomaker ‘case LTC Stewart (sp?) was incapacitated) on 6 Jan 1983, CO H had only 1 commissioned platoon leader (Martin).  So, since I was the next reporting El Tee, I was sent to CO H—it didn’t matter that I was a 12C (Cavalry Officer) and not a 12A, or that I had just completed the Infantry Mortar Platoon Officer’s Course (aka 11C ANOC), or that my background (e.g. Ranger Qualified) was more suited to what a 19D would do.  Nope, I was the next ‘newbie’ so I got to go to the tank company (and never allowed to escape).  No regrets though.  So, here's a memory tester (it helps in not developing Alzheimer’s) .....the rest of the Hawk Company line up from that period was CPT Roy Geiger CO (replaced by CPT Hillary Herman Evers III), 1LT Ned Gugle (sp?) XO (replaced by 1LT Dan McLaughlin (sp?), 1SG "Fast" Freddie Chapman as the first shirt (replaced by a crusty E-8 named Morgan who smoked like a chimney and could run like a deer), a weaselly E-5 named Gardner who looked like Old Bill and wore name tapes which read 'US Cavalry' instead of 'US Army' as CO clerk, 2nd Platoon was led by SFC Terry Hof (I had the honor of working with Terry and leading this platoon after my time with the 3rd.  Those TCs were Kemp, Rivera, Hof and Hammond and to a degree Fussel (sp?), 3rd Platoon was led by SFC Mark Leslie Defriese (sp?) before I took over and then by a 4th ID Vietnam vet named SFC Esclesen (sp?) (the TCs were Wright, Jollip (sp?), Defriese and one other who I cannot presently recall), the NBC NCO was a SGT Harris (who could also run and hated when you called a protective mask a gas mask—that’s why I called it a gas mask), the CO Supply SGT was a cat named Williams and the CO Armorer was a specialist from Puerto Rico who wanted to send a couple of AN/PVS-2 night vision scopes back to the island since they were 'not on the books'-- don't recall his name.  Our 2 HOW Battery FIST was a 2LT named Jerry Vergara (sp?) who, on his first border tour was assaulted by a drunk medic who tried to sodomize him--welcome to CAV Country!  He was replaced by SGT Lashley (sp) who parted his hair in the center and his 113 driver was a SPC Meyers. Fun times for sure.    

           
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  John Lazaro August 12, 2023 5:37

  Greeting Ron!  Thank you for the reply.  Yeap, I spent four years of my youth in Charleston, S.C. at that small girl’s school on the Ashley River.  Wow, I didn’t know I made such an impression.  Lucky for me it was good; right? My self-imposed Spartan lifestyle to afford a new car was an exercise in how ‘perseverance triumphs’ (coupled no doubt with the fact that the Deutschmark to US Dollar exchange rate was over 3:1—which sure helped).  Truth-be-told, living like a monk gave me time to focus on my craft—that of being a professional officer; both tactically and technically proficient.  Still have the TACSOP with Old Bill and some of the old FMs (e.g. FM 17-95) I studied at night (‘cause I had no money to go get in trouble).  When not in either Hof, Grafenwöhr or Hohenfels, living in my one-room hooch (actually a garden house heated (sometimes) with free contaminated diesel fuel from squadron maintenance) in Gartenstadt built character for sure.  Everybody loves C-Rations; right?  By May 2014, I logged a total of 34 years in the Army and though my assignments sent me around the world, since 1988 my German wife of 38 years and I maintained a residence in (Kreis) Bamberg.  I live there today…..just no longer in a one-room hooch.                  
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  Dave Gettman January 15, 2017 15:54

  Oh, hell yeah. He also commanded the Regiment from July 1992 to July 1994, and was president of the 2d Cavalry Association for many years. This is Tom and I (I was pretty drunk by then) at a Stable Call in Vilseck, Germany, November 2008, welcoming the Regiment back from their final Iraq deployment.

  Note the matching ties!!!

  Tom and his wife have recently been touring much of the world. He has been posting pictures of their journey on Facebook.

  
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  2d7q0y40r9znf January 15, 2017 9:34

  Welcome from an old Bamberg boy from 58/60 !
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  Dave Gettman January 15, 2017 7:29

  Welcome to Dragoon Base, Ron.

  Tom Molino was my troop commander when I was in C Trp 1974-75. Just the other day I bought a wool shirt on eBay that belonged to Tom. Still has all the patches on it, including his name tag. I was thinking about wearing it to the next 2d Cavalry Association reunion to surprise him. He is currently the Honorary Colonel of the Regiment.