OK, kids. Campfire.
My first duty station in Germany, as a part of the 1st Armored Division was a tiny installation known as Illesheim. I think the post was actually known as Rose Barracks, but forgive me, 30 years later, I might be mistaken.

Illesheim was originally built in 1938 as a Luftwaffe base. And the barracks we lived in were Luftwaffe barracks. From 1938. With plumbing from 1938.

We had a single Mechanized Infantry Battalion there. We also had the 11th Attack Helicopter Brigade.

My little Infantry Battalion, 1/6IN, belonged to 1AD. 11th AVN, on the other hand, belonged to VII Corps, one level higher. Doesn't really matter to tonight's story, just, weird shit going on in organization land.

I mean, there's a couple guys who follow me that will get the nuance. You kids playing at home, don't sweat it.

Pre-2001, force protection wasn't really a huge thing, but given the incidences of terrorism in Europe in the 80s, there was at last SOME force protection. Some physical security.

Illesheim was a really small post. Essentially, there was only one gate to get into or off the installation. And do recall, this was a base built by the Luftwaffe in the late 30s.

So, you've got 1/6IN stationed there. You've got three battalions of attack helicopters there, and a few dogs and cats. By far, 1/6 is the largest single unit.

From time to time, we'd be tasked to do some housekeeping, like guarding the front gate.

No biggie. I'm used to getting stuck with a four hour tour of duty at some asshole hours. I mean, once a month? Not bad. Not like I'm a USN OS going 6 on, 6 off for 6 months.

So, kinda lost the plot there for a bit, got distracted, had to get some dinner.

So, every month or so, got tasked to guard the front gate for four hours. Being the junior guy I was, my four hours tended to come at unpleasant times.

As a rule of thumb, the guard at the front gate was one enlisted guy, and one NCO, usually a Sergeant. Maybe not your Sergeant, but probably someone you knew. You might not be asshole buddies with this NCO, but for the most part, you found a way to co-exist with them.

And for the most part, we're not in an adversarial relationship. I find myself working with an NCO I don't know, well, we'll establish some lanes. For the most part, we're gonna get along fine. I have no problem being subordinate to an NCO. Nor even to an Officer.

So, it comes to pass, I'm stuck doing gate guard at Illesheim on the 10pm to 2am shift. Well. Fuck me. I'm also stuck doing this with a Sergeant I've never worked with before. I knew *of* Sergeant Vance. I just didn't know him.

Getting to know an NCO is kind of process.

Jesus, I started this thread at 3pm and still haven't finished it? It took about 2 minutes in real life.