Thanks to all of you. Been workin' this puppy for not quite 10 years and it feels GREAT to get the damned thing off my plate!
This is a self-published work. The content is far too esoteric for any sort of mainstream publishing company, which is what I mean by being "published." Ain't quite the same, in my view. I never attempted to submit the manuscript to anyone other than a self-publishing firm. Createspace will take anybody's stuff and put a cover on it.
I wrote the book because the story needed to be told. For those who served active duty during the Cold War, most of you know the relevance and the importance that Berlin had to our capabilities, chiefly in intelligence and monitoring. The combat forces in the city, by agreement, amounted to a brigade -- that's it. Meanwhile, the Soviets alone had something on the order of 24 divisions comprising 338,000 soldiers in East Germany. The East Germans had another 175,000 in their Volksarmee. All of this against an estimated 18,000 Western Allies including the Americans, British, and French Army and Air Forces.
They called the Western Forces in Berlin a "speed bump." Had the Soviets decided they were going to take West Berlin, there would have been a fight, but it wouldn't turn out well for us.
Being 110 miles behind the Iron Curtain impacted some people in differing ways. Some hated it, others tolerated it. But just being there, in that assignment, meant a great deal to all of us and as nothing had been written regarding the 298th, I decided to offer up something. This book is the result.
