Alsfeld-Augsburg-Bad Aibling-Bad Tölz-Bahrdorf-Bamberg-Baumholder-Bebra-Berlin -Bremen-Bremerhaven-Coburg-Dahme-Frankfurt-Fulda-Gartow-Giebelstadt-Giessen -Hammelburg-Heidwinkel-Heilbronn-Herzogenaurach-Hof-Kassel-Königslutter-Linz -Luebeck-Malmsheim-Mannheim-Memmingen-Munich-Mt. Eckstein-Mt. Meissner-Nottau -Nürnberg-Oberursel-Offenbach-Passau-Ramstein-Rothwesten-Salzburg-Scheyern -Schneeberg-Sontra-Vienna-Wasserkuppe-Weiden-Wels
The E-Mail Newsletter of the Army Security Agency Alpiners Reunion Group
Serving veterans of the SIS, ASA and INSCOM who were stationed in Germany or Austria
Volume 5 – Number 8
September 1, 2009
Ralph R, Thadeus, Editor
(Scheyern 53-56)
E-Mail Us
REUNION XVIII – OCTOBER 8-9-10, 2009 – ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
If you plan on attending the reunion and have not yet sent in your Reservation Request, today is the day to do it. In case you didn’t save the form, it is reproduced again at the end of this newsletter.
ASMN
A little help is needed. For the first time in a long while we find our General Fund reaching a precariously low amount. This fund, supported by free-will offerings, is basically used to maintain the web site, internet security and web hosting. Ink, paper, time and the DSL link are provided by me. So if you can spare an extra $20, it would be appreciated. Make your check out to the ASA Alpiners but mail it to your Editor/Treasurer at 107 West Pine Place, St. Louis, MO 63108-2111. Your support will be appreciated. The financial record of the reunion group is always open for inspection at each annual reunion and is sent to the Board members periodically.
Tom Steel (Bad Aibling 57-59), taking note of my Alaskan cruise, says that he just finished reading a book, "By Any Means Necessary", authored by William E. Burrows. Tom said, ―I think you would find it interesting since it deals with all the AF "ferret" flights and shoot downs of AFSS some of which I'm sure you might have "heard" about while in Nome. Stuff in that book you and I would have spent the rest of our lives in the stockade if we had even whispered it.‖
Al Poland (Bad Aibling 54-56), expanding on my comment about troop ship voyages, has a great piece about his troop ship experience, posted on the Internet. It may bring back some not-so-fond memories of previous voyages you may have made. Give it a read at:
http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~slowbell/responce.htm
Scroll down until you come to: "15r USNS GEIGER View From The Lowest Decks.".
New Member Robert Flanagan writes:
―I am retired ASA (1976), and a recently joined member of OSS. Many of you may remember me from our trail-crossings over the years.
As a memory tic: Having previously served seven years in the USMC, I joined ASA and served 16 years: Devens 058, 1960; Asmara 60-62; special asgmt 62-64; 3rd RRU, White Birch A/TC Mar 64-Aug 64; NCOIC Air Section TSN Aug 64-Mar 65; DLI-Russian May 65-Apr 66; VHFS Apr 66-Jun 66; Rothwesten 184th Opns Co/319 ASA Bn/17th ASAFS and Gartow NCOIC for ―winter change‖ Jul 66-Sep 67; made WO1 Jul 67; Bad Aibling Sep 67-Sep 68; 224th RR Bn (Avn)/S-3 Opns, TSN Sep 68-Dec 68; 1st RRC (Avn), Cam Ranh Bay, mission controller on P-2Vs Jan 69-Aug 69; Unit 10 Sep 69-July 73; USASASA, VHFS July 73-Jan 76 (Retirement).
I am a writer. I have two books in print, and along with other careers have, for the past ten years, written a weekly newspaper column of eclectic interests in The Hampshire Review (on-line at <hampshirereview.com>; my column ―Bits & Pieces‖ can be found in the Lifestyle section).
I have recently completed, after many years’ work, a book which is in its final few days of the publication process and will be available through a number of sources within a couple of weeks. I would like to publicize this book as widely as possible, as this is a personal publishing process and I am responsible for my own advertising. On the publisher’s scale, such ballyhoo is exorbitantly expensive.
This book, a novel—Involuntary Tour—is Book I of ―The ASA Trilogy,‖ three linked and contiguous novels that cover a period from the late 40s-1969. The trilogy is dedicated to ASA. All the action, all characters, all settings are ASA. The settings are primarily those locations where I was stationed, naturally providing me the background and experience to adequately define the scenes.
The story (the full trilogy) features two protagonists: a career ASA warrant officer and his friend and fellow servitor, a career ASA NCO. Neither of the protagonists is me, though I will admit to certain similarities, ―look-alike‖ in instances. One of my strengths as a writer is a ―good ear,‖ and I think readers will hear in the narrative, as well as the dialogue, the bright, sarcastic and ironic tones of the many fellow soldiers we served with in that special world. The story supports more characters than War and Peace, and the reader will think he recognizes many of them, though, as with the writer/protagonist gap, none of the characters are a single person from our past. All story personalities are amalgams of many people and/or pure creation. This is, after all, a work of fiction.
Book I opens in Bad Aibling in ’68, and there follows a long back-story segment of Viet Nam in’64-’65, with a few other flashback vignettes. Book II, Dragon Bait (projected for publication Jan-Feb 2010), again begins in Bad Aibling ’68, contains back story segments of Asmara ’60-’62, Rothwesten and Gartow ’66-’67; more Bad Aibling ’68, and Viet Nam ’68. Here again, a few flashbacks define other venues. Book III, Falloff (projected for summer 2010) is set almost entirely in Viet Nam in ’69, with a few vignettes/flash backs.
I began keeping a journal in Viet Nam in 1964 for what I hoped would develop into a novel. That it’s taken me 45 years to bring it to fruition is merely a matter of priorities, inspiration, and dogged determination. I had a living to make, a family to raise: after military retirement I worked for a major tech corporation for 13 years and returned to school, finishing my bachelor’s in Communications; added a Master of Arts in English; and a Master-of-Fine Arts in Creative Writing; then taught college English, American Lit, and Creative Writing at three colleges.
I have a website under construction which should be up and operable within a very few days. This site is connemarapress.org (Connemara Press, my business name) and will carry the listing of this Book I (and later, Books II and III), as well as my other two books and a third book to which I contributed. On the website, when ready, prices, S&H, and tax will be provided, as well as directions for ordering the book(s) directly from me. This will be attractive to anyone who might wish a copy signed and/or inscribed at no extra charge. It will also indicate methods of payment, including PayPal; and will further direct potential buyers to my publisher’s website, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Ingram, and some thousands of other bookstores where the book will be available.
I welcome information about any links or ―group‖ addresses you as recipient can provide me. And I trust that after you acquire your own copy, and read and enjoy it, you will lobby for the book to all and sundry. I look forward to hearing from you, and to know that this tale (only one of thousands of stories yet un-told) will be, finally, in the hands of those about whom and for whom it was written.
Thanks,
Robert Flanagan
304-856-1635 work & FAX; 304-856-3866 home & answering machine
<connemara@frontiernet.net>‖
NEW CONTACTS
JoAnne Booth Carpenter – Augsburg – 80-82
Robert Flanagan – Rothwesten/Gartow/Bad Aibling – 66-68
The following was sent in to me by a friend. Read it and weep fellows! Sorry, I don’t know the original source.
