United States Constabulary
1946-1952
Chapter Two
Hunting for Boars
Written by Eight Ball
Back to the past. When patrol duty came
up, the unit would split up and move from Base area, to small towns within our
assigned area of patrol. We moved into this town waving one of the eminent
domain things to take over a building to be used as patrol HQ's. Instead, we
made a deal with the owner of a small pension and gasthaus to utilize the rooms
for the troopers and the courtyard for a parking area. After getting set up we
set out on our first scheduled patrol. Coming back to the Gasthaus, hungry, tried
to see what to eat. Lots of C Rations K rations ( nearly lost some of my teeth
over them) got something down my throat. The troop mess hall sent up dried
milk, dried eggs, canned items and the famous sandwich item (Horse****). Oh, my
favorite snack to this day is a Garlic Bolonga and Onion Sandwich.
Me, I am no finicky eater but this was getting to be
a joke. Then coming back one day from patrol, we spotted some wild boar in the
field. I remembered the local farmers were complaining that the wild boar and
deer where eating up there crops and they had no way to get rid of them. AHA!!!
my mind flashed. Seated in the gunners seat I traversed the turret in the
direction of the Boars and let loose a short burst. Got me one of the biggest
ones. Stopped and threw him on the hatch cover and took off for
town.
We made a deal with the town butcher. He would
supply us with some of the meat and he could divide up the rest for the
townspeople. Word got around and in the process we ended up supplying the meat
from the deer and the boar we shot on the way back and they supplied us with
vegetables, eggs and bread. The owners wife cooked our meals, (My other favorite
meal, Schnitzel and pomme fritzs) the kids washed our vehicles for the
candy, cookies, gum from the C rations, talk about living and dining in style. Sure
felt sorry for the other units and that we soon would have to go back to base.
Oh by the way, the kids loved the you know what.
Eight Ball
Posted 6/20/08
Continued from Chapter Two
More Base Camp and Boars!
Harking back to the old days, I
remembered an incident that occurred in conjunction with my last
story. Back at the Base Camp, we were in a stand down mode
(another story about this later). The top kick came into the
barracks and told us that a Forest ranger from the area was having
trouble controlling the Deer and Pig problem. Since the beginning of
the occupation, no germans other than shooting clubs were allowed to
have weapons. He asked if it was possible that some of the
troopers would assist him in trying to eliminate some of the wild
animal population. (there's that word again Volunteer). Gee here
I am, this born and bred city boy (Brooklyn N.Y.), is going to have a
chance to go hunting. So I go down to the Arms Room and draw me
out one each Rifle grand M1 (love those Army backward nomenclatures.),
and some ammo clips Proceeding out to the designated area, I'm standing
there with one of the Rangers, when out of the brush comes this huge
Boar. Raising my trusty rifle I aim at the boar and fire off a
round. I hear this grunt and the boar looks over at me. Hey I
fired this 30 cal round into this guy, why ain't he falling like they
do in the movies. With a grunt he lowers his head and charges
toward us. The ranger heads for parts unknown, me I pump seven
more rounds at him and he's still coming. Luckily, there is a tree
nearby and up I Go. Getting back to camp I tell the top kick my
story, and he started laughing. What's so funny I asked him? He
said you dummy, you fired 30 Cal Armor Piercing Rounds at the boar,
they were traveling so fast that they went right through him, the only
bad part is that in your haste you didn't hit any vital organs if you
hit him at all, that's why he kept charging you. If you had asked
me first he said, you should have filed down the bullets and made them
a dum dum round.
Eight Ball
Posted 9/20/08
Chapter One - Sitting in the gunners seat of an M8 armored car.
Chapter Three - 1st Constabulary Brigade and the USS Boozer
Chapter Four - Classified Subject Latrine
Chapter Five - Latrine Ritual
Chapter Six - Canister Shots
Military Stuff - We all like to read Military Stuff
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