View Full Version : riggers at tolz..... late 60's
late 60's, anyone ever see where the parachutes were packed? Remember anything of interest there??? you know, pictures ?
so sad, ok, I will share what I saw. Pinups everywhere, centerfolds from Playboy..entire walls and ceiling covered... every inch......a SF papering!!! It was one of the wonders of Tolz......great people our riggers. The best, I might say.
farmallih
11-18-2009, 13:02
I responding on behalf of my father, who was a rigger stationed at tolz during the late 60s. He worked in the rigging shed in 68 and 69. Where you there during the same period?
The rigger shed was located about 150' or so east of the Quad...it shared a parking lot on the south side with the commissary...I think TMP was just east of the rigger shed...long building...riggers on the main floor, HALO team (ODA 3/113) in the loft, mountain team (ODA 5/123) in the basement...
When I was there, the packing area was pretty standard...you have to remember that during that time Bonnie and Connie in PM Magazine went from being scantily clad to wearing casual clothes, the pin-up girl on the inside back cover of Soldiers Magazine went away and anything adorning the walls of a barracks room had to be inside a picture frame...guys were allowed to tape centerfolds inside their lockers, but that was about it...no pin-ups were permitted in work areas...as I recall, we had one or two female riggers when I was in Toelz...
A guy could still get lunch and a couple of brews at the Labor Service canteens in the south parking lot, though...
The era you are referring began to disappear when women started attending jump school in 1974...
Nothing inside the shed as of 1981 - probably too damn PC by then.
So as not to hijack this thread, but while on the subject, go to my post #193. Does anybody recognize themselves as jumpmaster and SF jumpers from a Chinook jump in January 1981? Here's the page:
http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1942&highlight=tolz&page=10
lksteve,
I was on 5 from 1/76 thru 12/78 and we were indeed in the basement under the riggers. I don't recall any pinup collection, tho I was in the rigging area only occasionally (and I'm sure such things would have been noticed by an impressionable youth such as myself).
At that time, the Commissary was indeed immediately south, tho there was a divider in the parking lot. The "craft shop" auto shop was immediately North, the long building to the E was also used by the auto shop/AFEES parts store, etc. TMP was much further South, out past the Rod & Bottle.
Hartley
greenberetTFS
11-22-2009, 19:54
I responding on behalf of my father, who was a rigger stationed at tolz during the late 60s. He worked in the rigging shed in 68 and 69. Where you there during the same period?
Could use more on your public profile...... Doesn't anyone read the stickies anymore ?
Big Teddy :munchin
Utah Bob
11-26-2009, 14:36
We had riggers? I thought the chute fairies brought them.
ZonieDiver
11-26-2009, 17:33
We always feared the rigger named "Donald Duck"!
We always feared the rigger named "Donald Duck"!
Do not forget about Micky Mouse He packed A lot of chutes..:p
Nothing inside the shed as of 1981 - probably too damn PC by then.I think it had more to do with Jack Harrison than it did anything PC...
So as not to hijack this thread, but while on the subject, go to my post #193. Does anybody recognize themselves as jumpmaster and SF jumpers from a Chinook jump in January 1981? Must have been a Det Europe jump...January of 1981, the battalion was either on the Brauneck skiing or on the Battalion Winter Warfare training exercise...we came back in a day or so early so we could watch the Super Bowl...I've looked at the pics and I don't recognize anyone, so it could have been PCT as well...to the best of my recollection, we had three or four 'Hook jumps in my 3+ years in Toelz...
greenberetTFS
11-27-2009, 13:39
Lenny Fronta,was a rigger at Tolz from 1959 until ? He went to the 10th with several of us guys after they deactivated the 11th and we all re-up for Special Forces in Dec 1958............I wasn't a rigger,but he was and they were glad to get him.....Any of you guys remember him? CHicago boy,good old Polish lad..........I'm not sure when he left.....;)
Big Teddy :munchin
Bad Tolz
12-21-2010, 14:55
Rick Kelbaugh was a rigger there ('67-68 I believe). He later joined LAPD, was in the SLA shootout ('74), survived a near fatal Huey crash and became a successful screenwriter after retirement.
Rigger22
06-27-2011, 10:27
I was in the 10th SFG at Toelz Rigger section for two years. We did have pinups as that era was not interested in Political Correctness. We also had a keg of beer from the monastery every Friday after work in the break room.
Rigging was a hard job, look at the MOS qualifications. We worked to inspect every piece of equipment after each jump, repack it then issue it for the next jump. Then we were required to be at the marshaling area and on the DZ for DZSO duties. We also went on all training missions including TDYout of country.
Section chief was CWO Christman and Jerry Sage was Group CO, SMJ Piolette was Group SMJ. Line outfits were in Prinz Heinrich Kaserne.
Rigger names that I remember-McCoy,Charlie Mackay, Ron Andrieu, Miller (Moose), James Rogers,Jim Morris, Carl Lavender, Bob Lohman, Robert Lass, Dave Pennell, Dean Baker,Ken Walton, Gordon Avery, Baja, Jerry Brooks, Cooper, Bob Floden and Don Cain.
The Rigger shed was the old Panzer tank maintenance shop during the 3rd Reich when Flint Kaserne was the Junkerschule. It was located next to the base commissary.
The tunnel system under the Kaserne was one of my slightly off-limits activities, I loved to explore them.
portland.ken@gmail.com
I have returned there more than twenty-five tomes in the past 45 years.
Thanks God, someone besides me saw pinups! Thought I had lost my mind at the wine house.
"We also had a keg of beer from the monastery every Friday after work in the break room." I remember that monastery, they had the best dark beer ! Thanks for your great work and whoever gave me a tour thanks. The support that we had at Tolz was " the best "...thank you!
My most vivid memories of the rigger shed are (1) the PLF training platform with the windlass that controlled your descent when you exited the platform and (2) all the effin' table drills in there when our ODA went through MFF training. :D
I was there 3/76 - 12/78 and don't remember any pinups, either, during that time.
Richard :munchin