My first gunnery rotation to Grafenwohr was October 1965.  We were billeted in concrete barracks in an area designated as "Normandy".  We slept in our sleeping bags on cots;  heat was provided by wood-burning stoves, and for a "field exercise" it was preferable to sleeping in the  Bavarian woods in October.  It didn't matter to me much;  I was a fuel truck driver so most of my time was not spent in Normandy, it was spent on the firing ranges refueling tanks and tracks or racing back to the fuel storage depot,re-filling my tanker, and racing back to the range.  After a few days of that, I could go into Normandy and get some sleep, eat hot chow, warm up, and get ready to go back out.  Of course, being a private meant that I also had a number of other chores:   cleaning latrines, dumping trash, sweeping and mopping, etc.  Our down-time only lasted a couple days then it was back to the ranges. 

On the corner of the contonement area there was a little snack shack.  It offered hot dogs, sodas, chips, cigarettes, and candy bars, etc.  My favorites were the hot dogs.  The dogs were delicious, the buns were steamed and soft, and there was German mustard to smear on them.  Top that off with a Pepsi (German Pepsi, not exactly like US Pepsi but cold and tasty) and you had a filling and yummy meal.  We were there for about a month and I bet I ate fifty or sixty of those dogs.

Grafenwohr is probably the best known training area in the Army.  The tank trails go around in a big circle;  inside the circle is the "Impact Area", the place where all the big guns' bullets land.  Tanks and artillery and other big gun units fire from positions along the tank trail into the impact area.  Across the Impact Area from the main post of Graf is Ammunition Supply Point 1 (ASP1).  It is one of the biggest Ammunition storage areas in the whole Army.  All of the units firing at Graf get their ammo from ASP1.  Every morning there is a long line of ammo trucks lined up at the gate of the ASP waiting to get inspected and draw their ammo.  Right outside the gate there is a snack trailer;  this one is a private enterprise that has been there for who knows how long.  This snack shop sells one thing:  Schnitzel sandwiches...among the very best Schnitzel sandwiches ever.  The first time I bought one of those sandwiches it cost me three marks (seventy-five cents at the time) and the last time I bought one it was about three dollars...but still worth every penny. 

Back in the day, field exercises meant anywhere from three days to six weeks eating cold C-rations two or three meals a day.  The field kitchens would set up and feed real food to the folks in the field site, but again, fuel drivers usually missed out on that;  we followed the tanks all day and then fueled them up when they stopped.  Then we would run to the rear to refill our tankers;  later around 3-4 am we would show up back at the field site...at about the time the tanks' crews were getting up for "Stand to"...all the vehicles would start up at the same time (this was supposed to keep the enemy from counting the number of vehicles as they started).  So the fuel drivers would face the choice of either eating a hot breakfast or trying for some sleep.  I can't tell you how many times I decided on breakfast but fell asleep before I could make that happen. 

So the opportunity to grab a Schnitzel sandwich or a hot dog?  Well, it was huge. 

This was a bit of a ramble but it was therapuetic...I have been worrying about a few souls lately and haven't been able to write much...so I just sat with a string of thought and pulled that string to here.  I have a couple of other related articles coming thanks to this ramble so it worked for me...you'll just have to put up with it.