Comments for A walk through a Cold War (and cold) landscape...

A walk through a Cold War (and cold) landscape...

2009-01-06T13:49:08Z

I've written before about the problem we've had with poachers showing up and hunting the Castle demesne without permission.

So, I expanded my signage on the property, hoping to catch their attention. Okay, maybe not. Mostly because I think it's funny.

This past Sunday I went strolling and took some pictures of the signage. So, come along and visit the farm of an old Cold Warrior.

As you 'round the bend you see your first sign that you've entered a new, well, actually old, place.

No entering the 1K zone without authorization and an escort of border-qualified personnel!

Speaking of border-qualified personnel, here comes part border collie Gunner, commander of the Exterior Guard of Castle Argghhh!.

I'm challenged and have to prove I know the Sekrit Handshake (well, actually, a High Five). I'm allowed unescorted access, having proven by Sekrit Sign that I, too, am border-qualed.

Meandering up the hill, the next thing we stumble across is the fuel storage area, which contains a souvenir of the cold war.

The red and yellow sign comes from a defunct Soviet facility in East Germany. I'm told it reads "POL Depot" which is why it hangs on the fuel tank (currently empty, not storing bulk mogas that close to the barn, thank you very much). However, the other place that the tank fits neatly is right under the power lines... so a new place will need to be surveyed, leveled and bermed, and we'll install it there. Of course, the problem with that right now is the best places are close to the road... which might be a temptation to thieves in times of expensive gas.

Curiously, the "POL Depot" sign has... a bullet hole in it. It came that way. Didn't happen here.

The next thing we stumble upon is a chicken scratching away in the minefield in the Soviet area of the Castle.

Moving down the road a bit, and we run across the Soviet collective that does all the minelaying in that area. Most of them lay anti-personnel mines, but the Percheron and the Belgian Shire lay big, steaming anti-tank mines.

Continuing our walk, we go across the road, and find ourselves leaving the American Sector - along the road that dead ends against the ~~Brandenburger Tor~~, er, neighbor's gate.

Time for a hot cuppa joe, I'm thinking.

Comment from fdcol63 on 2009-01-08

2009-01-08T16:35:29Z

" ... you need an Ausfart sign .."

Reminds me of the Einfahrt signs. I used to wonder why it was always just ONE, but thanked goodness I never saw Hundertfahrt signs. LOL

Comment from ry on 2009-01-07

2009-01-08T01:21:14Z

Is it weird that I feel homesick?

Hmmm. Dunno. Do you feel like painting?

And now you gotta move the fuel depot? What a pain. Might I suggest the relatively level area by the clothesline? Should be easier to get it nice and graded there, and fairly accessable to the Motor Pool de Argghhh! in that spot while being away from the Firing Range.

Comment from Roy Patterson on 2009-01-07

2009-01-07T19:04:31Z

Wow! those signs take me back! I served with B Troop 1st Sqdn. !4th Armored Cavalry back in the mid to late 60's. We did border duty up on OP Alpha. I had occasion to get out there from time to time to insure commo and would usually stick around and visit with the guys up in the tower.
I remember back in late 66 or sometime in 67 when the East Germans replaced the existing fences with stamped steel fencing all the way down the border. The army was right there guarding the workers as they replaced the fence.

proud to have served
Roy Patterson
14th Armored Cav
66-69

Comment from Cricket on 2009-01-07

2009-01-07T15:56:24Z

Oooh and add something charred to the 'electric fence.' What about an 'Eibahnstrasse' sign...going back the way the poachers came? Maybe a coupla dead Soviet tanks...

Heh.

Comment from Pogue on 2009-01-07

2009-01-07T14:22:48Z

John, you need to add a smallish crater and a charred tennis shoe to the vicinity of the mine field sign. Just for effect...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-01-07

2009-01-07T13:57:44Z

I guess we'll have to get Mary Ann working on looting the Autobahn...

Comment from Mrs G on 2009-01-07

2009-01-07T13:41:39Z

Hey, you need an Ausfart sign and a priority road sign, ooh and the blue arrow signs that points to the road then it will be just like home. (sigh) I do miss it.

Comment from Sgt. B. on 2009-01-06

2009-01-07T05:38:22Z

Hey Brad, does everybody who went through McCoy have pictures of that vehicle park? (Like me?)

John, you have that amazing collectio of artifacts, but they're all inside! Need to start working on some outsde stuff! An SP arty piece or something...

Comment from Brad on 2009-01-06

2009-01-07T03:31:28Z

You need the sign in my URL. Saw it at Ft. McCoy and thought it was cool.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-01-06

2009-01-07T03:02:59Z

Allen - I like the way you guys think.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-01-06

2009-01-07T03:00:20Z

Ride Fast - not yet, but someday, a poacher, if I'm lucky...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-01-06

2009-01-07T02:53:11Z

Josh - mostly just the signs.

For now.

Comment from Josh on 2009-01-06

2009-01-07T01:42:13Z

I'm rather partial to the "Danger -- 10,000 Ohms" signs. With scary red lightning bolts. Gets 'em every time.

Yeah but what good is that gonna do if you've got electricians tresspassing?

John - Do you actually have the Castle property sectioned off into Soviet and American sectors with some kinda theme or something, or is it just the signs?

Comment from Cricket on 2009-01-06

2009-01-07T01:27:54Z

Brilliant.

Comment from Ride Fast on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T23:50:41Z

You ever find a stranger just standing on your property, shaking with fear, afraid to move? Heh.

Comment from allen on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T23:47:04Z

a friend has some land near Laconia,NH that he had some locals dumping their construction trash on.

we posted it as the "1st granite state militia corps sniper training area"

we scattered some .50BMG brass (that we couldn't reload anymore) around, and hung a few shot-out targets up underneath the sign.

in black sharpie, on the targets "we love radiators"

hasn't had a problem since!

Comment from FbL on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T23:01:25Z

Love the signs, John. For some reason, this post gave me a vision of what the neighbor kids are going to be saying about you when you're 75 and an even grumpier old man... *bratty grin*

Comment from RetRsvMike on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T21:28:45Z

Jeff/John, i understand that similar shenanigans are alleged to have occurred in the vicinity of Bad Kissingen as well... not to mention in the vicinity of Wildflecken, and curiously also in the vicinity of Meiningen (which, if i recall, happened to be in Thuringia)

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T20:24:51Z

AFSis - the Shire and the Percheron aren't ours, they're being pastured at our place. The woman who owns them is in a divorce proceeding and because the couple couldn't settle it, the judge directed they sell the house and acreage they own and split the proceeds. We're giving
the horses a place to live until it all gets settled out.

I love big horses, too. They truly are gentle giants, but man, can they demolish a round bale in no time flat. They consume mass quantities of comestibles!

Comment from David M on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T19:48:19Z

Is it weird that I feel homesick?

I feel the same way...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T19:46:09Z

SSG Jeff - *koff* whatever do you mean?

I liked Augsburg. Lived in Fryar Circle while Dad was commanding the artillery battalion (before they got moved to Neu Ulm) at Sheridan Kaserne.

The wrecked bunker at the O'Club entrance was far more complete than most people realized... though I'm sure I don't know why.

Comment from AFSister on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T19:44:15Z

That's OUTSTANDING... I especially like the mine field sign. BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

Oh, and btw, I absolutely LOVE Percheron horses! Holy cow. I didn't know you had any!

Comment from bad cat robot on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T19:28:08Z

I'm rather partial to the "Danger -- 10,000 Ohms" signs. With scary red lightning bolts. Gets 'em every time.

Comment from olga on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T18:59:12Z

Yes, it does: 'sklad goryuche-smazochnykh materialov' - collection of materials that can burn and oil ( as in 'oil this barrel')

Comment from Fishmugger on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T18:46:44Z

John,

It sounds like the good ol' gun toting boys from Kansas don't revere the signage the way the signs were originally intended. Must be an attitude thing.

What happened to the "Actung - Mine Field" one. That may get their attention.

While it is a beautiful landscape, the signage does kind of lend themselves to indicating Federal Property, which means under staffed unarmed Park Rangers. You may want to consider "Doberman Training Area", "Center For Disease Control Detox Area", "Bird Flu Quarantine Area", "Actung Mine Field". I signed all my signs "Copo il tuti Capi", just to let them know we meant business. Although I don't think that would work the same in Kansas.

Comment from SSG Jeff (USAR) on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T18:33:00Z

Heh. And my 1SG was annoyed when he found the "Do not photograph (and other things) " sign in English and German that a friend of mine and I took off our arms room as we decommed Flak Kaserne in Augsburg, GE... not like he had to look hard though - it was hanging prominently in my room in the Barracks.
After that he kept an eye on me to make sure no other signs disappeared....

Comment from RightGirl on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T18:04:05Z

Is it weird that I feel homesick?

RG

Comment from Neffi on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T17:53:05Z

I recall a very jet-lagged SP4 taking the border qual test in Schweinfurt circa 1978... without any prep whatsoever, or having any idea what the questions meant. But he found himself patrolling the Grenze toot sweet, baby!
48 hours from touch-down at Rhein-Main to the back of a (doorless) M151A1 in the snowy hills outside Coburg... 3/7 Cav was a bit short on personnel in those days.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T16:00:06Z

Hey, Olga - does the sign say something along the lines of "fuel depot?"

Comment from Cannoneer No. 4 on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T15:59:37Z

The Czech border was a scenic place to escape the continuing soap opera of the housing area on weekends. Ran up on those signs and stopped right there, reversed to a wide place to turn around or cranked on the steering wheel until I got the hood pointed west. I was not Border qualled.

Ever seen this site: Grenzer.com?

Comment from olga on 2009-01-06

2009-01-06T15:43:34Z

Love your place, love the signs :o)