( Frank Sabalja from Brooklyn, NY all chuted up and ready to go. )

I am not prouder of doing anything in my life than successfully graduating from that Jump School.   Would I do it again?---I don't know---I'm not 17 anymore.  EDITOR'S  NOTE:  SPOSS, YOU KNOW DAMN WELL YOU WOULD!!! More about Jump School later.  Click to go to Jump School"Paratroopers of the 50's"BUT HURRY RIGHT BACK( Click "Back" button on your Toolbar to return to this page when you are ready to "QUIT" Jump School )

Now to Recon---I couldn't have asked to be placed in a better outfit.  I thought I had won the "door prize" at "Reppel Deppel" for best unit assignment.  The thing I enjoyed most about Recon was that it was almost never boring.   We wore more hats than a Hollywood actor.   We did our basic job of training for combat reconnaissance for the division regularly---but we were division special troops and were called on regularly for a multitude of tasks.   I have been an MP,  a Game Warden,  Honor Guard for visiting VIP's,  Security Police,  a "Paratrooper Model" in a civilian theater lobby for a recruiting drive,  and guard for the Ft. Campbell payroll---many other things---.

  

But let me tell you about the payroll thing right now---The Army paid in cash in those days---once a month---we went in convoy of army sedans in the middle with machine gun armed jeeps front and back---personnel armed to the teeth---from the Fort to downtown Clarksville,  Tennessee bank,  TN & KY State Police helicopters even participated.   I was standing on a corner across from the bank while the money was being loaded into one or more of the sedans---.   I was in full combat dress w/sidearm and a loaded carbine butt resting on my hip and in a semi-parade rest position and this little elderly lady comes up to me and tugs on my sleeve and asks "MY LORD---WHAT'S GOING ON?".   I said "Don't be alarmed Ma'am---nothing's going on---we're just picking up our pay---we'll be gone in a couple of minutes"---.   The lady stood there and looked the whole scene over for a little bit---then slowly walked off---shaking her head.  
 
One of the major roles we played in the Division was being the bad guys in war games.   If we were playing football you would have called us the "scout team" or "next opponent".  

[ L to R :  Pvt M. K. Dove, Pvt Roberto Siqueiros, and myself dressed in "aggressor" uniforms and camoflaging a jeep mounted 75mm Recoilless Rifle and a radio/machine gun jeep at a road intersection during some exercises at Ft. Campbell.  All of our Scout Section vehicles were equipped with vehicle mounted VRC-10 radios or had a portable PRC-10 radio with the vehicle.  Our ability to communicate information was vital to the accomplishing of our recon mission.   The vehicles being camoflaged are mostly below road level and we have pretty good protection from enemy direct fire ( or so we would argue to the Umpire that was deciding who knocked out who).  It looks like I'm more interested in my shadow than in the work going on. ]
EDITOR'S  NOTE:  SCOUT TEAM HAVING TROUBLE CALLING PLAY--- GOING IN TWO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AT THE SAME TIME! ( One of our Scout Squad radio/machine gun jeeps slid off into a quagmire and got stuck.  That's me standing on the far side of the "rescue" jeep with my helmet off.  There were some places that the much vaunted jeep just couldn't go.  We managed to find most of those places at one time or another. )

In football subs and wannabes generally comprise the scout team.   We were not subs or wannabes.   I personally was a new snot nosed kid in the neighborhood but Recon's ranks were rich with combat veterans from WW2 and Korea.   I have worn a dyed shirt with yellow epaulets and a helmet liner with a "mohawk ridge" across the middle almost as much as I wore our regular helmet.   We were the "permanent aggressors" and these outfits would take us on for maybe a 3 day test and then go back to regular stuff.   We stayed and took them on one at a time.   True that this gave us the advantage of knowing terrain, etc. --- plus we didn't always follow the rules.   The game was rigged---we had to let the "A" team win---there was never any doubt that the US ARMY would prevail.   But even at my young age then ---sometimes it scared me---to think that we could so easily and absolutely mess up an elite outfit like the 11th Airborne (---guys in the Regiments would no doubt argue with this statement---). 
  

A good recon man, in my opinion, is a THINKER---and a OPPORTUNIST---and a SURVIVOR---. EDITOR'S  NOTE:  A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS ( also note the baton --"billy stick"-- on the cot ). We as a rule were an independent bunch of guys that just needed to be given a "scope" order and then be left alone as to how we carried out that order.   We loved each other like brothers---even our officers---but we were somewhat undisciplined sometimes by regular Army standards.

( My room mate S/Sgt E. L. Hansengetting dressed for Security Police duty at Infantry Kaserne in Augsburg )

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   EDITOR'S  NOTE:  SPOSS,  WAS THAT THINKER OR DID YOU MEAN DRINKER? (Left Picture) A few of our guys taking a "beverage" break after loading our M-41 tanks, M-59 APCs, and Half-tracks on flatcars for transport to the Czechoslovakian border."I KNOW !!!"---You are probably wondering what Paratroopers were doing with Tanks, APCs and Half-tracks.  We inherited the armored vehicles from the 5th Division when we replaced them in Germany.  The Half-tracks were later replaced with APCs (  some with open tops for our 4.2" mortars ) .  Our jeep mounted 75mm Recoilless Rifles were replaced with the latest model jeeps w/mounted 106mm RR's ( they could bust any tank at the time ).  We also took on more 50 cal. machine guns.  We also had the old 3.5" Bazookas and bristled like a porcupine with light 30 cal. machine guns ( I hope I've remembered all those calibers right---if not somebody will correct me ) .   We maintained a double TO&E for Airborne or Ground operations.   The 11th Airborne Division replacing ( Operation Gyroscope )  the dissimilar 5th Infantry Division caused some TO&E  ( and fulfilling US responsibilities in Europe for combat readiness ) problems for the upper brass at the time.

(Right Picture) Yours truly and my good buddy George ( V.D. ) Casserly from Queens, NY soaking up suds in the Havana Bar on Goethe Strasse in Munich.

Casserly had been in the Army longer than I had but he had trouble keeping stripes on his sleeves.  Casserly had kin folks living in the French Sector of West Germany and I went with him to visit them.  His relatives and everybody in the town treated us like visiting royalty.  It is one of my fondest memories of Germany.

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We fought amongst ourselves ---more than with other outfits---a joke ( but the truth ) was where we should plant the Company Standard---the base hospital ( broken jaws---Recon on Recon ) or the Stockade.  It seemed that at any given time we had several or more of our guys residing in one or both of those places.

   ( Left Picture ) These guys were in my Scout Section and were doing "vehicle and equipment maintenance" at the motor pool.  But they were glad to take a moment to pose and ham for the camera.  I have some stories to tell about the guys in this picture---from baby faced Irishman Ronald ( Audie Murphy ) Gill, from NYC, ( on the left ) to skinny boney knuckled George ( V.D. ) Casserly, also from NYC ( on the right ).  Too much to put under one picture right now.  For now I'll just say that I was glad I outranked them and they were my buddies.  They were all the kind of guys you wanted to be with you when cornered in a dark alley.  The hangars in the background were Division Aviation Company facilities at Oberweisenfeld Kaserne in Munich.
( Right Picture ) Cpl. Charles ( Chuck ) A. Masten apparently having fun explaining a Field Manual to Cpl. Carl Christiansen.  Chuck Masten went on from Recon Company to a 21 year Army career---19 as Airborne---during which he made over 350 jumps and earned 4 different Foreign Parachutist Badges.

In very early 1957 we were moved from Munich to Augsburg, Germany and re-designated "Troop C (Recon) Airborne, 17th Cavalry".  The 11th Airborne Reconnaissance Company had gone into history and ceased to exist in name.  The only thing that changed on our uniform insignias was our wings background patch.

From this---  ---  to this-------------------
11th Recon's wings background had been the same as the 76th Tank Battalion but we only had a paperwork attachment to them.  

I was becoming a "short timer" at this time and never adapted to the new name.   I had known and loved our old name too long.  I don't think I ever wrote down the new designation the same way twice.  We started getting some helicopter training and practicing exits on a DZ.  The helicopter would come in and hover about 2 feet off the ground---( these were the only times in my life I ever exited an aircraft in flight without a parachute ).  In 1958 the 11th Airborne Division was de-activated.  Paratroops were to some degree becoming dinosaurs.  It was a new age and the methods of warfare were changing fast.  The Helicopter was putting a lot of us old jumpers out to pasture.  But then again, if it's a better way to get the new workers to  ( and from ) the job site, I'm all for it.  I was out and back home at that time, and was glad I wasn't there to see it.

I have contact with six old Recon Company men right now that can verify or break my jaw for every thing I've said.  They are:  SFC James Appugliese in Ooltewah, TN,---M/Sgt C. E. McAmis ( Retired-Army ) in Cleveland, TN ( Company 1st Sgt at Oberweisenfeld Kaserne in Munich, Germany ),--- Cpl Kimmerly Kiser in Yellow Springs, Ohio,--- Cpl Charles R. Sleight in Caldwell, Idaho,--- Lt/Col Jesse A. Murga ( Retired-Army ) in Augusta,GA ( Company CO at Ft. Campbell )---and M/Sgt Charles A. Masten ( Retired-Army ) in Humbolt, Arizona .  They are pictured below left to right in the order listed as they appeared in 1955 ( pictures copied from very poor photo sources ).

          

Kiser, Appugliese and myself having a little 3 man reunion in Chattanooga in September 2001


  This is me today as I appear to my computer camera.( I only update these pics when my scalp is shined or covered and I have my teeth in. )

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