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In 1976, I was assigned to Company C, 2/12 Cavalry, and our unit was stationed at Wildflecken, Germany, on a Brigade-75 rotation. While there, that winter, we were on "wargames" with the West German Army and we were moved to the Ludwigshafen/Mannheim area to patrol the west bank of the Rhein to prevent "infiltrators" from crossing the river.

At the time, I carried the M60 machinegun. Late one cold night, we heard sounds from the river. The squad leader checked to see if there were any friendlies supposed to be on the river and, when he was told there was not, we set up an ambush. As the sounds drew closer, the squad leader popped a flare and we all opened fire. I had about a 200-round belt on my hog and was firing 10-round bursts ...

... under the flare, there was some fisherman frantically pulling on his oars for the other side of the Rhein as I was expending the last of my ammo ...