Cold War US Army tank driver at the Iron Curtain (282)

Cold War Conversations Podcast

Ian Sanders

History, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.8 • 758 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2023

⏱️ 99 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brian Regal entered the US Army in 1977 and served on the M60A1 tank initially as a driver. The M60A1 was America's primary main battle tank during the Cold War, with initial deployment in 1960 and combat service through to 1991. After tank school, Brian was sent to West Germany where he was assigned to the 3/35 Armor in the Bamberg Garrison as part of the 1st Armored Division US Army, where the 3/35 was tasked to fight a Warsaw Pact attack across the Czechoslovak and East German borders. Brian was also his company’s nuclear, biological and chemical warfare specialist. He describes in detail his training, how patrols were conducted along the borders, an incident with a Soviet Military Liaison mission car, the war games amongst the West German civilians, as well as practice alerts. It’s a great chat and Brian is frank about his role and the scant expectations for survival if war did come. He is now Dr. Brian Regal, Professor for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine at Kean University, New Jersey web page: https://sites.google.com/a/kean.edu/brian-regal-phd/ 0:00 Introduction and Brian Regal's initial days in the US Army 1:53 Request for donations to support the podcast 7:00 Brian's decision to join the Army and training experiences 23:41 Arrival at the first duty station in Bamburg Garrison, Bavaria 28:57 Introduction to M60A1 tank and its features 37:56 NBC training and nuclear chemical defense 52:54 Practice alerts and close calls during the Cold War 1:01:05 Rules of engagement at the border and description of fortifications 1:07:58 Interaction with German civilians and Soviet military during service 1:31:08 Journey to becoming a tank commander 1:35:48 Episode extras and appreciation for financial supporters Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ The fight to preserve Cold War history continues and via a simple monthly donation you will give me the ammunition to keep this podcast on the air. You’ll become part of our community and get a sought after CWC coaster as a thank you and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, We also welcome one-off donations via the same link. Extra photos and videos here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode282/ Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
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0:50.3	The company commander, after I was there for a few days, called me and a couple of other newbies in.
0:56.5	And he says, the one thing I want you guys to be clear about is what our job is.
1:01.2	And I'm thinking, well, our job is to, you know, drive tanks, shoot guns, blow stuff up.
1:06.9	And he says, our job is to die.
1:13.8	This is Cold War Conversations.
1:19.8	If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
1:28.0	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app or join our emailing list at cold warconversations.com.
1:33.8	Brian Regal entered the US Army in 1977 and served on the M60A1 tank initially as a driver.
1:39.0	The M60A1 was America's primary main battle tank during the Cold War
1:43.7	with initial deployment in 1960
1:46.3	and served through to 1991. After studying at tank school, Brian was sent to West Germany,
1:54.1	where he was assigned to 335 armour in the Bamberg garrison as part of the first armour division, where the 335 was tasked
2:03.6	to fight a Warsaw-packed attack across the Czechoslovak and East German borders.
	...

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