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54th Engineer Batallion, 1974-1978 at Wildflecken. I lived in the barracks on post. I enjoyed the tour of duty there, most of the time. The least enjoyable part was living in tents in mid-winter each year for a few weeks, the ice and cold was pretty tough. The best part was exploring all the towns and cities in Germany and central Europe.
Did you know that during the time you were at Wildflecken, basketball star Shaquille O'Niell was attending high school (in Fulda) and lived in Wildflecken while his NCO dad was stationed there?
Here's a good link to re-visit Wildflecken, the top of the rock: Mod deleted link to website per City-Data Terms of Service. (Googling "Wildflecken" will get you some very good info about the city...)
Last edited by Crew Chief; 07-11-2010 at 01:21 PM..
Yeah,Shaq was a few years older than me, i think.
I lived in the small towns of Hettenhausen and Bad Bruckenau.
Both really charming little towns.
People stationed in Wildflecken loved it or hated it!
It's still a small town, but not quite as remote as years back. As you remember, Wildflecken is located only about 12 kilometers from the former border area that divided Germany. During the "cold war" era, many of the roads in West Germany within about 20 or 30 kilometers of the border area were intentionally left in an unimproved state because they did not want to invite the Red Army in with "invasion expressways" from the border area into West Germany. Today there is an autobahn from Frankfurt to Fulda, and from there it's only a half hour or so down to Wildflecken. There's also a new autobahn that heads from the eastern state of Thuringen towards Nuremberg, which passes south of Wildflecken near Bad Neustadt. And the autobahn from Hanover to Munich passes just 10 km west of Wildflecken. It's rural but not too remote if you have a car.
I went to Wildflecken a few times I think in 1992 and 1993 to support the Cavalry Cup competitions there. I believe they closed the post down soon after that. I remember we had to drive several hours in the military vehicles from Baumholder. As soon as I arrived in Wildflecken I actually wanted to return to Baumholder as soon as possible. I'm sure if I was more familiar with the area it wouldn't have been so bad.
Things have change greatly for military over here in Germany since the Wall came down in 1990s. Most of the small posts and even many of the larger ones have closed down. In 1990, we had 8 community sized hospitals, now we just have one medical center at Landstuhl. Major communities like Nurnberg, Wurzburg have completely closed down. A lot of activity has shifted toward my area in Vilseck, Grafenwoehr. Millions of dollars in reconstruction projects have started in our area. I told someone yesterday, that I've been in Germany in each of the last five decades - first got here in the 1960s, spent youth/teenage years in the 70-80s, served the Army off and on over here from 1980-present.
My dad was stationed in Wildflecken from 85-88 and I loved every moment of it. I was planning on traveling to Germany and may take some time to visit the area we lived in. Which, if the maps I'm looking at are correct, would be Neuwildflecken now? Does anyone know if this a German military installation now and/or if it is open to the public?
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