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GERMANY SIGHTING REPORT
[NOTE: I received this sighting report recently. It is
provided here with the approval of the author/witness.]
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3 About ten years ago I had a rather unusual experience 3
3that I've never discussed with anyone in much detail even 3
3though I think about it all the time. So, I thought I'd post3
3my little UFO story here and see what people could make of 3
3things: 3
3 3
3 In the Fall of 1981 I was a young teen serving as an 3
3Army tank crewman with Alpha Troop 1/10 Cavalry 4th 3
3Mechanized Infantry Division, Ft. Carson Colorado. I was a 3
3gunner aboard an M60A1, the antediluvian predecessor to the 3
3M60A3. 3
3 3
3 In early September of that year, my unit shipped out for 3
3West Germany as part of the annual Reforger exercises. We 3
3arrived on September 6th, drew our equipment, and headed 3
3straight for the field. 3
3 3
3 After about three weeks into the exercise my Squadron 3
3took defensive positions around a little village called 3
3Ramrod or Butzbach, I can't remember which. In fact, the two3
3villages may be very close to each other, I've never checked3
3a map. (I'm pretty sure it's Ramrod) 3
3 3
3 Our tanks and M113s were placed in a thick little patch 3
3of forest on the edge of a 1/2 kilometer wide by one or two 3
3kilometer long field of thick green grass amidst slightly 3
3rolling hills. Our gun tubes faced North towards the village3
3some two kilometers away. 3
3 3
3 The field itself was surrounded on all sides by thin- 3
3trunked German fir trees with an average height of 90 feet. 3
3A paved, two lane, road ran through my unit's position and 3
3down the middle of the field into the village. 3
3 3
3 After waiting two uncomfortable days for the British to 3
3attack our positions, my Troop commander decided to let us 3
3take trips to the sportzplatz in the village below for 3
3showers. We hadn't bathed in over a week. 3
3 3
3 I went in on the second run with most of my platoon, 3
3about twenty guys. It was a cloudy, overcast, mid-morning. I3
3cannot remember the day or the date. We were riding on a 3
3full canopied 2 1/2 ton truck. I sat at the rear of the 3
3vehicle, near the tailgate, because I liked the view and 3
3didn't smoke. The back-flap had been rolled up and tied 3
3open. 3
3 3
3 If none of you here have ever ridden on a canopied 2 1/2 3
3ton truck, then understand that it is a jolting, jarring, 3
3noisy, completely deafening experience where all aboard 3
3acquire many bruises and stiff rearends after even the 3
3shortest of drives. Communication is achieved only by 3
3yelling to one another at the very top of your lungs. 3
3Communication with the driver, from the back of the vehicle,3
3is next to impossible. 3
3 3
3 But I digress... 3
3 3
3 As the truck made its way along the road at a 15 to 3
320mph clip, something moving in the air above the trees to 3
3the East (The directions given here are only for purposes 3
3of orientation) caught my attention. Less than 100 yards 3
3away, just above the treeline, moved what appeared to be a 3
3large (make that DOUBLE large) Glad Bag "rolling" about 3
3through the air as if caught by the wind. 3
3 3
3 Its speed must have been less than five miles an hour. 3
3 3
3 Intrigued, I watched as the "bag" loped along 3
3southwards, skirting above the trees, and then chaotically, 3
3haphazardly, curved west towards the open field and began 3
3descending. 3
3 3
3 Now, this was all very unexciting until I noticed that 3
3the "bag" was changing shape and color. 3
3 3
3 As it made its westward "turn" and sloppy, rolling, 3
3descent (just as a large, half-inflated, giant, garbage-bag 3
3would if caught in a slipstream at 90 feet), its color 3
3changed from flat green, to flat red, to flat black, to 3
3flat blue and so on. As this was happening, so too did its 3
3baggy, bulky, shape, begin to smooth and flatten the closer 3
3it got to the ground. 3
3 Pay special attention to the word -smooth-. It was as if 3
3all turbulence had ceased and every crinkle, every ripple, 3
3every bump, every possible exterior surface distortion that 3
3might be caused by the slightest movement of wind "within" 3
3the "bag", had vanished. 3
3 3
3 Indeed, it was elongating and flattening to become a 3
3smooth disk. 3
3 3
3 At an altitude of scarcely twenty feet, all downward 3
3motion suddenly ceased as the "disk" made a precise and 3
3radical maneuver that sent it on a perfect horizontal 3
3glidepath above the field. At this very instant, in reaction3
3to the sudden and completely artificial maneuver, my Platoon3
3Sergeant, SFC Venero, said, and I quote him exactly: "What 3
3the f___ -IS- that thing?" 3
3 3
3 To which I replied "It looks like a garbage bag that 3
3changes color!" (Brilliant words indelibly etched in my 3
3mind. ) 3
3 3
3 I hadn't known he was watching, but he'd seen everything 3
3just as I had. 3
3 3
3 As the disk then continued to descend again, this time 3
3with a very steady and controlled forward speed of ten 3
3miles an hour or so, my truck crested a hill. Moments 3
3before this "thing" would have landed, my view was blocked 3
3by the hill as we moved downwards towards the bottom. 3
3 3
3 I did not say a word. I did not scream "STOP THIS 3
3TRUCK!" I did not in anyway try to jump off the moving 3
3vehicle and run like hell to see what it was because I KNEW 3
3I'd be... yelled at by my Sergeant. I was a disciplined 3
3soldier and the thought of being yelled at kept me GLUED to 3
3my seat. 3
3 3
3 After the UFO disappeared behind the hill, Sgt. Venero 3
3looked at me, blinked his big dull eyes once or twice, then 3
3shrugged his shoulders. "Hmm" he said. 3
3 3
3 Because the whole event was so very undramatic, because 3
3there was no Close Encounters of the Third Kind theme music 3
3playing, because the truck was rattling and swaying and 3
3bouncing and because I would've looked like a fool, 3
3screaming at all of them to shut up and tell the driver to 3
3stop, I said not a damned thing. 3
3 3
3 Nada. 3
3 3
3 Later, when I tried telling others about what I'd seen, 3
3the standard response was the heady "Sure, Conley. Sure." 3
3 3
3 Sergeant Venero, not the most interesting, thoughtful, 3
3or well read fellow, chalked it up as being "Just one of 3
3those things." 3
3 3
3 Now, whenever I've told this story to fellow military 3
3people I get the usual "Hey, it was probably just an RPV." 3
3 3
3 This is a very logical possibility, but I've seen quite 3
3a few remotely piloted vehicles and ALL of them have wings, 3
3ALL of them fly in relatively straight flight paths, ALL of 3
3them change direction with a dip of the WINGS (which, as I 3
3said, this craft did not have) and NONE of them change color3
3and NONE of them change -SHAPE- in flight. (Forget midget 3
3craft with variable sweep wings. This UFO did not have 3
3wings.) 3
3 3
3 Because of the noise in the truck, I can't tell you if 3
3the craft made any noise. I will say that I heard nothing. 3
3 3
3 What I saw just did not appear to be man-made. 3
3 3
3 Has anyone here ever seen anything like this? 3
3 3
3=END= 3
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FMail 0.92
* Origin: * On Topic? What's that? <*> Fidonet UFO Moderator (1:123/26.1)
** EOF **
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or
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Don
--
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