SLIPPERY SLOPES AND MBTS

WHEN  i was  in GERMANY in the 60s, i sometimes had to direct  traffic
during	alerts.

once, i was on loan to another	unit, and we had to provide  TCP at an
intersecting highway and a hilltop kaserne in the  winter time.

the tanks  and vehicles came downslope, and were supposed to turn right
or left onto the  main road which ran through the  tiny German town.
straight ahead	of this intersection was the  vill's gastehaus.

i stood on a colorfully painted 55 gal drum that used to hold gas and
directed  traffic.

one fine day, in the winter, an M-60 MBT, one of many to come downhill
to make the turn that day, braked on the way down hill, and went into a
SLIDE, from the halfway point all the way to the intersection and beyond
. . . .

i remember hearing the screech, up slope and seeing this  MBT coming
downhill, sliding along like a big ass sled, rocking slightly, knocking
an M151 and trailer out of its way, and turning broadside as it reach
the bottom of the  hill.

it was sliding right at me and my TCP.

i left the  TCP, runing before i hit the  icy road, fell and still got
clear in time to hear the screeching CRASH! behind me.

looking in that  direction, i could not  find my TCP at all, and th M-60
was sticking out of the  ground floor of the gastehaus.

no one was hurt, fortunately, and the shitstorm over the accident was
predictable.

all of these years later, i still wonder how man times this  must have
happened since	1945. . . .