Airplane or Thunder (or Military Training) In Berlin / Flugzeug oder Thunder (oder militärische Ausbildung) in Berlin

Last week, I read a blog post titled "Flugzeug oder Donner" (Airplane or Thunder) on the HIN UND WEG blog found on the Berliner Morgenpost, a FANTASTIC Berlin newspaper, website about how the citizens of Berlin, particularly those that live close to TEGEL AIRPORT and the noise aftermath of a recent rainstorm that grounded flights out of Tegel. It seems that the citizens were not taking to kindly to the fact that once the weather cleared the aircraft took for their respective final destinations after the 11:15 pm "quiet" time cut-off.

The "Quiet" time is something that I never really thought about until I read about it. I can remember training at Doughboy City (US MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) Training Area) & Ruhleben in the British Sector. There was plenty of High Speed Training conducted in those mock villages with their buildings and S-Bahn stations, rail lines, sewer systems, warehouses, and the Rathaus (town hall), every assault and defense was different, no two were ever the same. REALLY!!!

However, there was one thing that was the same when it got dark and late at night, we shut down operations (OK, OK we scaled them "way" back). It seems that the our civilian neighbors wanted a good night's sleep and with our night attacks and artillery simulators and flash bangs and the ever present hooting and hollering of US Army Infantrymen, a good night's sleep was not a certainty. So we had to keep it down.

I had never experienced such a unique set-up when it came to training in the field. Of course, excusing the fact that the training was conducted in a city that housed a couple million people it was unique nonetheless. A couple of million people are more apt to make some kind of noise especially during the "quiet" time but that wasn't our concern, we were out there training and had to do it when we could.

Then again, no one could forget that just outside the city limits (aka the Berlin Wall) there were several Soviet military divisions that also had to conduct their training and sometimes they would back their howitzers right up against the wall and fire their rounds well into the night. I wonder how our Soviet counterparts put up with the complaints from the locals regarding the violation of the Ruhezeiten?

Don't get me wrong, we tried our best to follow the rules but the occasional Artillery Simulator would certainly do its best to rattle a few windows. Then again, there were those welcomed evenings around the fire barrel where the bond among the Infantrymen was solidified and made stronger. 


I would like to hear your take on "Quiet Time"

Thanks
Dave Guerra
A Co. 6th Bn 502nd Inf
US Army Berlin Brigade
1985 - 1987