The Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Guilty
EUCOM is a unified command, meaning that it all the major military organizations are represented there, located at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart-Vaihingen. It is a top heavy command...in the area of about 10 acres there are about 15 general officers or civilian equivalents. Majors and Lieutenant Colonels are a dime a dozen. This takes some adjusting to, since most of the field grade officers come there from battalion, squadron, or ship commands and wind up in an office cramped up with four or five former dieties...checking out who has the seniority...or more importantly...who is junior. The junior major gets to make the coffee. Inter-service rivalry abounds in these offices and directorates.
The J-4/7 Directorate is located on the second floor of the end building of the headquarters complex. A new Marine Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) was looking for the room number where he would be spending the next few years. He found the door with the right number on it but there was a sign on the door that said "Door Blocked". This LTC had his orders and was not about to let a sign block his way...he put a hefty, Marine-style knock on the door. Unfortunately, the door was made of glass. It had been covered with a wood grain pattern contact paper...but it was glass and NO glass door can stand up to a determined Marine knock. It crashed in. He was informed by the senior LTC in the office, Air Force, no less, that access to this particular room number was achieved through the adjoining office door.
The next morning as you entered the second floor hall from the stairwell, there was a free standing sign in the middle of the hall that said, "The Joseph P. Armstrong Memorial Door" with an arrow under it pointing to the brand new wooden door that had replaced the broken glass door. On the new door was a large sign that read, "Joseph P. Armstrong Memorial Door. Below it stated: Door Blocked--do not enter. You may:
a. Go Away
b. Go one door down the hall and gain access through the adjoining office
c. Knock this door down (USMC Only)
The sign stayed in the hallway until a Marine enlisted man could be located to remove it...that took some time since the nearest Marine detachment was in Italy.
With apologies to my pal and homey, Geezer."