My next job was a temporary-duty (TDY) assignment to try to make some
extra money. On that job, you were given money for your expenses, and it was
always more money than you would use. At the end of the trip, you were expected
to have a few extra bucks. The job was transporting top-secret materials to
various military locations in Germany
I looked forward to the morning when I would begin my long trip. The
vehicle was loaded overnight with classified materials. My destination was near
Czechoslovakia
That first day I drove about halfway
there. I stopped at a US Army post and slept overnight. The next morning I got
up at 6:00 a.m., had breakfast, jumped into my vehicle, and was on my way. I had
anticipated arriving at my next destination ahead of schedule. It was about
10:00 a.m., and I was making good time. The roads in Germany
A short distance in front of me, walking in the street, was
a German woman pushing a baby stroller with a baby inside. Headed in the
direction of the woman and baby, I held the steering wheel again trying to prevent
an accident from taking place. I tried to change the direction of the vehicle, but
it was out of control. I could feel the
vehicle slowly turning over after sideswiping a tree.
Hanging upside down in
the vehicle with my seat-belt attached, I begin to smell gasoline and heard
dripping from the ruptured gas tank on the side of the vehicle. I panicked and
couldn’t get unattached because of my weight on the seat-belt. Finally getting
my seatbelt off and falling to the inside roof of the vehicle’s cabin, I was a
bit disoriented because everything was upside down. Wanting to get out of the
vehicle quickly, I made an attempt to kick the window out, almost breaking my
leg. I must have seen too many movies thinking that would work. So then I rolled
the window down, crawled out of the vehicle, stood up, and ran a short distance
away from the upside-down vehicle. I noticed that the woman with the baby ’wasn’t hurt, and a crowd of people had gathered. Walking toward the
crowd, excited that I gotten out of the vehicle
alive, I pulled out a packet of cigarettes, took a cigarette from the pack, and
was about to light it when the crowd begin yelling.
“NOOOOO!”
They had noticed
that I was covered in gasoline, and with the flick of my lighter I was about to
blow all of us away. So they all were yelling.
“NEIN, NEIN, NEIN!”
Stopping me just in
time, I yelled back to the crowd, “Danke schon” (“Thank you”). Soon after that,
the police showed up, but they did not arrest me. They took away my driver’s
license.
An investigation would take place to
determine what happened and if I should be held responsible for the accident. I
was grounded and assigned to the motor pool, washing vehicles, while the
hearing was being conducted.
A month later the
investigation was completed with a decision about what should happen to me. In Germany
Upon completion of the
investigation, I was found not guilty of any wrongdoing. Luckily for me, the
German woman pushing the baby stroller told them that I drove up over the hill,
saw them in the road, and in order to avoid hurting her and the baby, I flipped
the truck over. I got a clean bill of health because of the German woman’s
testimony. It turned out that I was a hero for not hitting the woman and the
baby.
She told them what she thought had happened.
But honestly, I had no control over that vehicle; it had basically taken its
own route and flipped over. After that, it was decided I would not be sent on
any more temporary-duty trips.
Awesome Book! - [Alien in the Delta] .Kindle Edition $4.99 Paperback $14.99 -
Awesome Book! - [Alien in the Delta] .Kindle Edition $4.99 Paperback $14.99 -