You may not remember me, but you probably influenced my life as much as anyone ever did; and I think of you and the 14th AC frequently. The moral of which is that we all go through life and occasionally significantly affect people without our awareness. I served with the 14th AC from November 58 to October 60. I was with "I" Company and Headquarters Co. When I was there we went from Battalions to Squadrons (April/May 60). In I Co, I was a tanker in the 2d platoon, holding at one time or another all the positions inside a M48A2.

Life has been good to me. I left the Army, went to college, attended law school at the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently picked up an M.B.A. I married and have two children. Professionally, I worked in the private sector in executive positions for about ten years, but most of the time served as Treasurer of the University of California, San Diego. Oh yes, I am a professor and teach Business Management as well as a historian that serves on a couple Board of Directors of institutions of history. I have made two national TV programs on WWI aviation: One on Nova and the other on A&E Biography.

I mention this not for self-aggrandizement but rather to indicate to you the type of lives some of us former EMs lived after the 14th ACR. I constantly think of those days in the late 50s and early 60s. They are what is responsible for what ever happened to me subsequently. I went from an 18 year old boy that performed border patrols to a 21 year old man who was self reliant and self sufficient, (I remember on one patrol when I was with I Co, our element had a very hot "verbal" exchange with the E.Germans at Vacha concerning some refugees that they had apprehended who were actually crawling under the border wire on the western side of the ten meter strip with both us and them pulling, sadly we lost, and as I walked away from the place I looked into a plate glass window at Philipstal and saw a functional soldier, and said to my self, "That's it! I am no longer a boy. They have made me into a soldier." I think all of us can be very proud of what we did in those days. The duty wasn't easy for us EMs (probably not for the officer's either). We were in a small town where we were tightly controlled with respect to passes (which only had a 10 km range) and bed checks, we were the only Americans, no other soldiers were near us, the town was beautiful but after a couple of weeks it was boring. Girls were scarce. We were individually very much alone; we knew for certain that our sergeants didn't love us. There were the monthly alerts, training at Bergen-Hohne (the infamous concentration camp), Wildflecken, "Wintershield", etc. Our duty standards were extremely high

Bob Hope never came to Bad Hersfeld where the sacrificing was actually done. He was with the guys who were roughing it in Frankfurt, who saw a lot of heavy duty between 8 & 4:30 in their offices, and even tougher duty with the Frauleins after hours in Kaiserstrasse's bars. All I can say is thank God for the great German beer and a lot of great American boys from Alabama, New York, Kansas and California. BUT I never had any doubt about the importance of what we were doing. And I can tell my family and friends that I did not serve state side in some bureaucratic or semi-military position but rather had a real job with real consequences and importance, with real deprivations - at the most important spot in the cold war). I felt we all did our duty to America in a more than average way. I think that at that time we were held to the highest standards, along with the guys in Korea on the DMV, of any unit in the army. I have, over the years, gained great satisfaction, in knowing that it is true that "Once a Soldier, Always a Soldier" Incidentally, the duty I experienced led me to get an undergraduate degree in Foreign Relations.

I still maintain an interest in the combat branches of the Army and have attended a couple of get together at the Army Armor Association meetings at Ft. Knox in May. What prompted this communication was last Friday I was watching Frontline on public television and it implied that the 14th had been reactivated. I went to the internet and sure enough something popped up when I plugged in "14th Cav". I noticed that the way the 14th Cav home page is laid out that there is a place for history between certain periods. I just may write down how we conducted border operation in the 3d Bn area at the peak of the Cold War, (two weeks on, one week guard duty, three weeks training), the patrols, the OPs/LPs, the foxholes, the cold, the food, "the incidences" etc. I have an excellent memory so maybe it should becommitted to writing.

What great personal happiness I felt when the Wall fell. It made all those long extremely cold, dark nights as a teenager, 9000 miles from my home in San Diego, traveling on foot, inspecting the border wire, terribly worthwhile.

Well, I would like to thank you for being my commanding officer and providing me with the self respect and motivation that carried me through that difficult, important time and the rest of my life. When one does a good job for one who has the highest standards, it adds to self-esteem and is never forgotten.

Best Wishes and Most Respectfully,

Suivez Moi!