To close out the story, we were there during some "fucking incredible" times. I was there from 88 - 92, and we were, sort of this continuance of defense of the city of Berlin against the Russians, who held East Berlin and East Germany since WWII. As such, we were allowed to wear the Berlin Brigade patch as a combat patch, after our tour there was over. I didn't reenlist, so I never got to do that, but just a neat fact. Well, while we were stationed there, Gorbachov opened the wall and gave East Berlin and East Germany back, so the reason for our unit to exist pretty much vanished in the span of a few months.

A mission that had been ongoing since WWII was finally accomplished. About 50 of us got assigned to HHC Berlin Brigade to basically remove the entire brigade from the area and back to the US before it was retired completely and the units reallocated. We were there for all of it. Helped tear down Checkpoint Charlie. Got to see the Roger Waters The Wall concert. Watched several NFL teams play exhibition "American Bowl" games in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Lots of cool stuff happened in a very short period of time, and I will never forget it.

I have a chunk of the wall on a plaque. It's a typical plaque like you might get at any trophy shop. It has an enameled map of the 4 "Sectors" of Berlin and a one and a half inch chunk of the wall as it's main features, and 2 brass text plates, one of which is crooked. It is one of my favorite things.