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SAT & BAF!: Memories of a Tower Rat
The year is 1986. The Cold War is five years from its end bringing a close to a nearly fifty year standoff between the United States and the USSR. The Soviet Union is outraged over a large number of Pershing missiles being kept in West Germany. President Ronald Reagan is proposing the Strategic Defense System also known as "Star Wars" further raising the heat on the Soviets. The USSR is in turmoil over General Secretary of the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev, proposing a revolutionary policy of Glasnost or "openness" toward the west. They are also mired in a war of conquest in Afghanistan. Leftist, terrorist groups such as West Germany's Red Army Faction (RAF) and France's Action Directe (AD) are threatening further attacks on western military installations. Thousands of protestors are regularly picketing sites that house nuclear weapons. It appears nothing can solve this standoff except complete, nuclear annihilation or capitulation by one of the sides. The pressure is rising quickly in the Cold War.
One company of Infantry stands between all of these enemies and live Pershing II nuclear missiles.
In this very personal memoir, the author carries the reader through his two year tour as a young Infantryman in Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment (Pershing). He shares with you the highs and lows of life in the boiler-pot of a Pershing unit. He takes you to the site, to the field, and out on the town as he earns his way back to "the world". This very readable adventure is brutally honest and irreverently funny. For the first time, someone from inside 56th Field Artillery Command (Pershing) speaks out on exactly what it was like to serve in that command during the very momentous period at the end of the Cold War. You will experience the brotherhood that is exclusively found in the Infantry which was only made stronger by the unique conditions in C 2/4 Infantry. This book is a rollicking adventure from beginning to end. The author explains the tremendous toll it took on the minds, hearts, bodies, and souls of the men who volunteered to stand between the Eagle and the Bear. Someone is finally sharing what millions experienced in this very entertaining memoir. You will stand by the author and see the world through his eyes. You will live it.
The Cold War has become a footnote at the end of many history text books. Even though it influenced the world more than any other period with the possible exception of the Renaissance, it is normally left with a short period at the end of a history class. Millions of Americans served overseas in the Cold War, and very few people have told their stories. There is an entire generation that only vaguely remembers hearing something about the Cold War. "SAT & BAF! Memories of a Tower Rat" is a first step in correcting that situation.
One company of Infantry stands between all of these enemies and live Pershing II nuclear missiles.
In this very personal memoir, the author carries the reader through his two year tour as a young Infantryman in Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment (Pershing). He shares with you the highs and lows of life in the boiler-pot of a Pershing unit. He takes you to the site, to the field, and out on the town as he earns his way back to "the world". This very readable adventure is brutally honest and irreverently funny. For the first time, someone from inside 56th Field Artillery Command (Pershing) speaks out on exactly what it was like to serve in that command during the very momentous period at the end of the Cold War. You will experience the brotherhood that is exclusively found in the Infantry which was only made stronger by the unique conditions in C 2/4 Infantry. This book is a rollicking adventure from beginning to end. The author explains the tremendous toll it took on the minds, hearts, bodies, and souls of the men who volunteered to stand between the Eagle and the Bear. Someone is finally sharing what millions experienced in this very entertaining memoir. You will stand by the author and see the world through his eyes. You will live it.
The Cold War has become a footnote at the end of many history text books. Even though it influenced the world more than any other period with the possible exception of the Renaissance, it is normally left with a short period at the end of a history class. Millions of Americans served overseas in the Cold War, and very few people have told their stories. There is an entire generation that only vaguely remembers hearing something about the Cold War. "SAT & BAF! Memories of a Tower Rat" is a first step in correcting that situation.
238 pages, Hardcover
Published February 24, 2011
About the author
Doug DePew
6 books31 followersThe author was an Infantryman in the Army and a Master at Arms/Storekeeper in the Navy. He has a BSEd in history from Southwest Missouri State University and has taught high school, been a correctional officer, taught juvenile delinquents for the state, and it now a teacher in a federal prison.
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