Oh my, where to even start...

First of all I must admit that once I was an armed member of a terrorist organization...

Admittedly this was during the Cold War, I was young, so I didn't know any better. Of course that is no excuse!

I guess that when it really dawned on me that I was caught up in this was when one of the capos of this criminal enterprise boasted that its field headquarters was capable of surviving a nuclear hit 400 yards away while still being operational...

Of course I should have left right away, but even more than fear of death I do understand the fear of being incarcerated, especially when you're still able to roam around more or less freely when not working for the gang!

Knowing that you're in a criminal enterprise while not able to get out, what is there to do? It is only in retrospect that I understand how we coped, of course we started sabotaging the hell out of random shit ;-)

Which is how I ended up in a snow drift right outside of the den of local crime leaders with a wrench, then hauling off the large roadsign that bore the name of the camp we were placed in!

This is the part of the past that I'm proud of, the sabotage training was very good. It was mostly done all alone in the dark of night, but later on I found a good fellowship in my roommates, which led us down a trail of pure madness - without ever getting caught ;-)

It got close though, which we also got confirmation about from a guy that one of us knew, who actually was following us all through a really wild night, but always arriving a few minutes too late...

Does anyone hand out medals for dodging any possible authority through a wild, drunken night? I mean, apart from the MPs even ambulances and the fire brigade was after us.......

And then it all ended later that spring, my 1 year stint in the despicable, criminal organization that is NATO was over. Oh wait, actually they hauled me in again in 90, armed me and sent me home for a leave, while ginning up a ton of fear of Saddam and whatever that I might not remember.

A few years later I actually got a formal discharge, but my own proof of that is rather the sign that I have with me here saying "officers mess".

Little did the officers sitting on the other side of that flimsy door know that I ripped it off right under their noses, and that any sane, human being would be on my side of that story if they had a good birds view of it all!

Stay free, never surrender!