Wistful Wednesdays - Baumholder Jacket

Living in Southern Virginia for the past two winters has already spoiled me with the warm winter.  Granted, there was a fierce winter three years ago, but everyone says it was an aberration - something that happens only every 20 years or so.  Even then, then temperatures aren't that bad, and in fact, no where in the U.S. do I remember living that had real cold winters, or rather, that biting, bone-chilling, wet cold that I remember from my Army days in Germany.  Maybe Colorado where my brother lives, but I never did. Maybe Kansas where I was assigned, but not quite.  My daughter, Kim, might remember differently. She would have been about ten then. 



But nothing compared to the winters spent in the Army training areas of West Germany.  I often went to either Grafenwoehr or Hohenfels for training.  Being in a tank or cavalry unit, we usually went to "Graf" and usually in the winter for annual gunnery.  It originally was a training area for Hitler's armor, or panzer, units.  The commander would watch the training from the large tower (above) in relative comfort as his units would practice their blitzkrieg operations as well as gunnery practice.

It was so cold - I have several stories that will see the light of day here, but one at a time - that we had what was called "Baumholder Jackets" made by the local seamstresses in the village.  It consisted of three layers; an outer layer (a green rubberized poncho) and and inner liner (a soft fluff-like camo poncho liner).  In between, was an Army OD wool blanket.  It was thigh length and had an oversize hood to fit over our tank crew helmets as well as our steel pots.  We bought the separate items at the Clothing Sales store and gave them to the seamstresses.  It cost $38 (1975 dollars) to make back then, not counting the cost of the items; that's about $275 today!

It's not me, but you get the idea.  Boy, was it warm! It was called a Baumholder jacket evidently because it originated there, Baumholder being a third training area in the Western part of West Germany, whereas Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels were in the southeastern part near the Czech border.

 I kept it for years afterwards, finally giving it to my father for hunting after I retired from the Army.  One could sit or stand for hours in the cold without getting the slightest bit chilly.  Actually, it was so heavy one didn't want to do alot of walking or standing.  I think Pop used it only for sitting when he hunted.  After he died, I got it back, but lost it over the past ten years.  It was cracking and falling apart.  But it served its purpose(s).