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The "New" Border
Observation Posts
Jack Tartella, Eaglehorse S2
in 77 - 78, relates the following about the " new " border
observation posts in sector: the plan was driven by one of
the chiefs of Facilities Engineering in Schweinfurt. Daley
Barracks was their responsibility and they also had
responsibility for the off barracks sites. The guy couldn't
believe that the Army used such a " dump " as an OP and he
had a plan to update things. There were many problems,
however, not the least of which was, the Cav was a V Corps
unit and the management of real property in Schweinfurt / BK
was a VII Corps responsibility. There were also problems
in land acquisition and design of the "new" OP's.
As Border Officer, I saw the
squadron copy of the plan in 1979. It existed as a file
folder about 3/4 inch thick detailing all the memos, plans
and discussions. Twice I sat in at meetings on this
issue, in Schweinfurt and at the BGS Barracks; attending
were representatives of USAREUR, Schweinfurt FE and Real
Property, the BGS and others. There were
discussions covering highly detailed plans to compensate
German farmers for the loss of land involved in the OP
plan, how and when trash would be picked up, control of
land pollution from oil / diesel leaks, a plan to compensate
the farmer if " the US force fires a flare ... and the
expended flare falls into a pasture .... and a cow eats
this and dies .... who will pay and how much ". Also under
discussion was the design. The BGS didn't want anything
that resembled an East German bunker / tower. Jack Tartella
had warned me that " the plan existed before he got to BK
and would exist after you leave ... " and he was absolutely
correct. When I left the job in 1980, although the file
was a little thicker, the plan seemed no closer
to execution . How wrong I was.
Four new border OP's were
built in 1984 - 85 in the Eaglehorse sector. They had a
unique design that did not resemble anything seen in the DDR
and clearly were a marked improvement. All four buildings
followed the same blueprint. From north to south, OP 10 by
Bruchs - Fladungen, OP Tennessee in place of OP Sierra, OP
12 by Sondheim and OP 13 near Breitensee. Of the four,
Tennessee was staffed by US forces 24 / 7; the other OP's
were manned periodically. The BGS also had keys to these
buildings and conducted their own observation program. When
the border mission ended, all traces of the OP's were
removed.
SSG Favia, Squadron Border NCO,
snaps photo of patrolling GAKs immediately in front of new OP 10 as
GAKs take his picture. --Favia
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