Revisiting the "Outpost of Freedom"

You gotta love the internet. Kids off to college can instantly communicate with their mothers and fathers – and, of course, boy friends and girl friends. Facebook keeps us current on the activities of friends and relatives. And even Twitter has some advantages, although I am not totally sure what they are.

I just discovered that I can even rekindle relationships I developed during my tour of duty in Berlin 40 years ago. I was a member of the Army Security Agency, which was under the jurisdiction of the National Security Agency rather than the Pentagon. In Berlin, I was a voice intercept operator, listening in on the conversations of East Germans in the Central Committee, the ruling agency in East Germany.

Since we weren’t supposed to discuss our activities with anyone and since we spent all our duty time cooped up in a small room with banks of tape recorders, we necessarily became close friends.

I’ve often mentioned to my wife, Chris, that I wonder what became of my best friend over there, Brock Garland. The other day when I mentioned it again, she said why not try to find him on Facebook or by searching on the internet. I wasn’t able to find him on Facebook, but searching on the internet I did find – and joined – a Yahoo Group for Field Station Berlin veterans. In the introduction, the moderator points out that “We Field Station Berlin veterans have lots to discuss that we were not allowed to talk about back then.”

I’ve already begun reminiscing with some of the guys who were there during my time but in different units. So who knows, I may ultimately find Brock or another friend and character, Gene “P. Rap” Brown (he was in charge of packing and wrapping material we sent back to NSA and not really related to the infamous H. Rap Brown). And maybe someday I will finally write that book about our experiences in the “Outpost of Freedom.”