I was stationed there in A Co. 709th MP's in 1973-1975. A lot of replacements were passing through there before going on to their regular assignments. I believe the 21st replacement center was the unit doing that.
There was a Russian Soviet Military Liaison Mission in Frankfurt which did some regular spying and shadowing of our units. They had PX privileges, which amazed most of us. Meeting a Russian Officer in full uniform buying a fistful of BIC pens was sure to leave you with your mouth hanging open. Several times while patrolling in Camp King, which was reputed to be the defector interrogation center for that part of Europe, we would find SMLM vehicles inside the base taking pictures and peeking in windows. We would chase them out, in our M151's, as they sped off in the night in their new Peugeot's. They would find their way in because often we would find the UP at the gate asleep. Sometimes we could get the German Police to set up a roadblock and force them to stop. The German cops would stick a sub-machinegun in their face and make them sit still. We would then take pictures and turn the pictures over to our military intelligence guys, who would pass it on and file formal protests. Of course we had our military people doing the same thing on the other side of the iron curtain. Several of our soldiers had been killed snooping around in Soviet controlled territory.
We had heard that once during a Reforger, one of the Russian officers had sneaked into a unit area, in full uniform mind you, and had questioned some of our soldiers about drug use, moral, chain of command etc. Since he was up front and in uniform everyone supposed he had the permission of those in command and so they told him whatever he wanted to know. Pretty clever.

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Pretty clever.

Think it was pretty dam bold!

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Originally posted by TScotty1:
Pretty clever.

Very interesting, good post, kudos. Unusual for a 1st post but then you've been a member since Oct, 06 so you've either studied and learned better than most (myself included) or you're a returnee under a new name or... I really don't care. Thanks for the peek, keep up the good work.

I was in Hanau and the Reforger story is true and on a trip to F-Furt PX I too was standing next to a soviet officer and I was surprised too. I was in a class in Lengriese with two guys from the USMLM based in East Berlin and some of the stories these guys told me was something else. They had the same mission as the Soviet Laison Mission had, to observe exercises, to a point. They told me two things that stuck with me, one, it wasn't the soviet troops that were trouble. Those guys just wanted to put in their time but the East Germans were completely different. To them their country, West, was being occupied. The told me during one exercise they were parked off the road observing a East German tank unit roll by. All of a sudden one T76 broke convoy and rode up and over the hood of their car. They reported a complaint but didn't me nothing.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SignalSgtWilliams:
I was in Hanau and the Reforger story is true....

I had also heard that our MLM guys had swiped a reactive armor plate off an unattended Soviet tank and that was how we acquired a bit of our expertise in that area. I had heard about someones vehicle being hit too. Glad that is all over with eh?

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Originally posted by cheapthrills:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by TScotty1:
Pretty clever.

Very interesting, good post, kudos.

Thanks, I see you are quite the "poster" yourself!

quote:

Originally posted by SignalSgtWilliams:
I was in Hanau and the Reforger story is true and on a trip to F-Furt PX I too was standing next to a soviet officer and I was surprised too. I was in a class in Lengriese with two guys from the USMLM based in East Berlin and some of the stories these guys told me was something else. They had the same mission as the Soviet Laison Mission had, to observe
exercises, to a point. They told me two things that stuck with me, one, it wasn't the soviet troops that were trouble. Those guys just
wanted to put in their time but the East
Germans were completely different. To them
their country, West, was being occupied. The
told me during one exercise they were parked
off the road observing a East German tank unit
roll by. All of a sudden one T76 broke convoy
and rode up and over the hood of their car.
They reported a complaint but didn't me
nothing.

I too was in Hanau, Hessen-Homberg 3rd Armor Div '67. transferred to Berlin '68-'70. Met some
USMLM "Spooks". They were housed across Freedom Bridge in Potsdam East Germany. I read the book "License to Spy" by John A Fahey, he was an officer with the USMLM in the '60's. good book detailing their "Mission". Here's their webpage...
http://www.usmlm.org/

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Originally posted by TScotty1:

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Originally posted by cheapthrills:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by TScotty1:
Pretty clever.

Very interesting, good post, kudos.

Thanks, I see you are quite the "poster" yourself!

Thanks back. I was a member months before my 1st. Then I started to twitch and could control myself no longer. I still try not to just make noise but screw that up now and then anyway.

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Originally posted by glennc6:
good book detailing their "Mission". Here's their webpage...
http://www.usmlm.org/

Thanks for the link. There were some great poignant photos of history there.