Bruce Kipp Just Joined RimbachVets

2011-03-07T14:26:14-06:00

I was waxing nostalgic over my ASA service and noodling around on the Internet when I came across the Rimbach Vets site. How cool is that! I was at Rimbach, Mt Eckstein, Mt. Hohenbogen, USM-626K/USM-626N, from October 1971 to December 1972. I was a SP5/SGT on Charlie Trick. SGT Don Orgle was my Trick Chief. Eugene Zadra (Z-Man) was chief maintainer. Later in my tour Bob Best was the First Sergeant, Maj Gary (Dick-Away) Dickenson was CO also for part of the time. He was the one who “busted” me from SGT to SP5 for playing cards in the comm center one mid shift and all my ops were asleep in the bay when he snuck in unannounced. Our MP in the guard shack, known to me as “Mad John,” was also asleep so he didn’t press the alert buzzer when Dickenson showed up. I also remember the Captain Hondo Memorial Ice-Free Antenna and the electric shitter fiasco. I recall a former member named “Coo-Coo” who ETS’d in place and married a German girl named Sissy who’s dad owned a nearby gasthouse. Ahh, man, Bruce Batman, Mondell Dillard, Roger Marquis and a host of others I haven’t thought of in over 30 years are suddenly flooding back. I’m wallowing in nostalgia. Does anybody else remember the story of Frank Liszt, the Chief of the Czech Carrybacks, who used to come up from Herzo Base with a gang of his buddies to help transcribe when things got buys? Write to me, remind me of people, places and things. Cheers and Best Wishes To You All.

William J. Greene Jr.

2009-03-23T16:28:31-06:00

We’ve been lucky recently in that a couple of members of the last generation of “Ridge Runners” — those who manned the automated Le Faire Vite system and lived on The Hill — have joined the site. Below is an e-mail from William J. Greene, posted here with his permission, introducing himself and talking about his service.

Joe has already added a post to the Tall Tales forum, and hopefully he and others from that group can contribute more there in the future. And, of course, any photos they have would be very welcome additions for our gallery area.

I was stationed on the hill from about the early summer of 1980 to October 19, 1982. I was one of your “guards” with screw drivers who had to go through an almost year long technical school (the army’s longest), then a 4 month additional school for the Le Faire Vite system. (Check your spelling, and FYI, it means “to do or make quickly”!) We did not live in Rimbach, but I had a lot of good friends there and in the surrounding towns who I still keep in contact with today. We did receive our weekly mail from Augsburg in Rimbach, and the postmaster there was a good friend! Unlike the early bunch of operations/maintenance personnel stationed there, we were 24/7. We lived and slept on the hill, there was no escaping our work. Leave your bedroom turn right the equipment, left to the living kitchen. There were six guys to take care of a bunch of receivers, and all the crypto, microwave radios snow shoveling, grass cutting, and even do tower work! We had next to nill as support, just six kids and a NCO (at times) taking care of business keeping the free world informed of what the bad guys were doing. Looking back they picked us for our abilities to work alone or in small groups, and they always let us screen the new guys who they had selected.

Most of the sites that talk about the remote sites just give the second generation of Hoherbogen or Wurmbeg electronics technicians the “they were not really there to do intel jobs, just trained board swapping MPs with screwdrivers.” For the most part that was the original concept when Harris developed the system, and that is why most of you older vets remember it that way I believe. However, it did not work out that way. It was a highly advanced system that required a vast knowledge of electronics to troubleshoot. If you did not have the skills, transfer came PDQ. So I get a kick out of the “maintenance men/guards” line! We had each a .45 assigned with nine bullets each. Locked in safe were the bullets, and the .45s in another. Both of the safes were locked in the secure shelter with the equipment. Yeah, we could not protect ourselves even from the roving tourist if they wanted in the site.

My complete name is William J. Greene, Jr. Not sure where your list was compiled from. I did work for INSCOM, schooled at Ft. Devens. Got out as a Spec5. Would have re-upped if they could have promised me a career there. I now fly with the Hurricane Hunters (as an engineer) trying to keep the states safe from the storms. LOL! Fighting the good fight, from cold war, to tracking asteroids, to tracking hurricanes. Always something that is after us!

I enjoyed your site. Brought back some good memories like weekly summer parties and snow up the perimeter lights!! But for me there is always a misconception about the second generation of the guys who carried on the same traditions as the first, just we were way ahead of our times with the downsizing we hear so much about today. More than once I was told that it was “more cost effective to loose 6 than the large number of guys that were stationed at Eckstien before.” But like you said, it was the best assignment not only in INSCOM, but the entire US Army if you ask me. The guys there were one of the best teams I have ever had to the pleasure to be part of.

Thanks for your work on the site! Sorry about the lengthy answer to a simple question.

Later, he added:

Bill, a pleasure to meet you. Sure please go ahead and post my email, maybe I will run into some of the Vite guys, although most of them I keep in touch with. I know there is one guy there still living in Germany. Tony Jeter, married a local girl, Lisa Kirschbauer. He has really went local. You might run into him over there. A very gregarious guy to say the least. He never writes, but Lisa and I keep in touch.

I really got to get the old site pictures and scan them in. It is on my bucket list. Share them with the world for prosperity..

Thanks again for your work on the site.

Member Profiles

2008-10-11T21:40:22-06:00

What’s the chance members could fill out their profile in the Bio section to include your branch of service, dates of service in Rimbach and where you lived while serving on the hill?

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Bruce Kipp Just Joined RimbachVets

William J. Greene Jr.

Member Profiles