This "About Us" is: 

THE ASA IN WEST BERLIN

  WHO WE WERE, WHAT WE DID, WHEN WE DID IT, WHERE WE DID IT,  WHY WE DID IT?    -

 Preamble:  Excess Verbiage Removed – Verified facts have been included.

The following history of the USASA Company in West Berlin represents an attempt to find common ground, without the uncertainty implied in bringing a number of voices together, in a setting wherein selective memory and forgetting might be encouraged.  A questionnaire was generated and sent to members of the 280th ASA covering the full years (1957-61) during which the 280th remained active in West Berlin.  More than twenty other persons (including one former Senior Officer) provided information useful in this study. The first draft was circulated to those who had completed the questionnaire, A later draft was distributed to the full membership for comment. (This version includes revisions suggested after the final 2007 draft was circulated).

No fewer than eight ASA subgroups were known to have been active in West Berlin between 1951 and 1957. 

In January 1957, all units were organizationally consolidated into the 260th USASA Detachment, designated as the 260th USASA Company. Personnel from these earlier units worked throughout the American and British zones.  Some personnel were attached to Berlin Command Headquarters in the Crypto-Comm Center, while others worked as translators/interpreters at Berlin Command or at the Tempelhof site where the US Air Force was centered.  At least one ASA electronic intelligence unit participated directly in the CIA’s Berlin Tunnel project from Rudow that lasted from 1954 to April 1956. 

The headquarters and housing for the 260th USASA Detachment and the later Company the 280th, was near the main gate at Andrews Barracks after 15 October 1957.  Some personnel attached to the ASA mission were housed along with the Signal Corps across the parade grounds as late as 1957. Some of those attached to the 7222 Defense Unit were housed at the Rudow site.  Housing in mid 1957 the barracks at Andrews became flooded with ASAers. 

Those who served during this period report that attitudes toward dress codes and ‘regular army discipline’ were relaxed.  Personnel worked staggered shifts and most work sites were manned by four to eight persons.  Frankfurt ASA Command was reticenct to enforce rigid dress guidelines or conduct within the barracks - as long as the mission’s objectives were not compromised.  

Transportation to work sites was generally accomplished by government vehicles.   Individual ownership of automobiles and motorcycles was encouraged and a convenience to the company as it relieved the company from the burden of providing transportation to multiple work sites.  Liability insurance was required, as was registration and license with the MP’s.

Personnel were ordered to stay off of the S-Bahn.  In 1955/56 one person rode the S-Bahn past the Lichterfelde-Ost Station in West Berlin and got stopped at Potsdam Station in the East, was taken by the Volkspolizei and turned over to the Russians who held him before an exchange at Freedom Bridge.   That person, reported that Russians had ‘threatened [him] with a rubber hose during interrogation. He was immediately removed from Berlin, sent to Washington D.C., was court-martialed, fined, and discharged.  A second S-Bahn incident occurred during this period. It involved a person who was living off base and rode the S-Bahn regularly; he was beaten by thugs in an S-Bahn station and did not report the attack because of the certainty of a court-martial.  In late 1956, there was one incident when a Russian linguist was accused of being a communist. That resulted in many personnel being questioned of their knowledge about this person and what he knew about the company’s operation and mission. He was sent out of Berlin.

THE 280TH COMPANY

        It is unclear if  any one dramatic event led to the ending of the 260th USASA Company and the beginning of the 280th USASA Company.  West Berlin became famous during the next decades as the ‘Capital of Spies’, was a center of unpleasantness between East and West and a premier source of information from East Bloc activities.  The Berlin Tunnel project, from Rudow into the Altglienicke District of East Berlin, had officially lasted only 11 months and 11 days, ending when East Germans entered the tunnel on 21 April 1956.  Company personnel were involved in a similar project that continued until after establishment of the 280th ASA.   

      By October 1957 the main ASA Berlin headquarters were already established at Andrews Barracks and the company's mission had become modified and the number of personnel was increasing rapidly.  It is also certain that the ASA was already making major modifications in its mission by late 1957 and had installed sensitive equipment in various locations and readying new sites for the rapid staffing alterations to come.  ASA Headquarters in Frankfurt envisioned a different mission and a consolidation of efforts within a single command and would be centered in a redesignated 280th Company. 

    With increase in numbers of linguists and crypto-technicians, Andrews Barracks would require tighter governance and in some cases a duplication of Regular Army Officers and NCOs - some governing a company of personnel and some in charge of the greater mission within ASA.  There was a perception that no one knew for certain just who was in charge.  Depending on circumstances and location, lower ranked personnel held as much or greater authority as did the Regular Army Officers.  Security clearance classifications encouraged that uncertainty.   It was common that personnel knew very few new personnel who worked outside their own work sites and ‘tricks’ - a further fragmentation that ‘need-to-know’ attitudes were encouraged.  Then, as now, access on a need-to-know-only basis were common practices.  

A NOTE ABOUT NOMENCLATURE: 

'Spooks' - Intel Collectors that were called Nonconformists, Malcontent to the extreme usually by the MP's because we didn't nominally exist at all.  The 6th Infantry Regiment called us "Goddamn Civilians and Officers called us linguists or techies rather than soldiers.  We identified ourselves as 'Brigade Clerks'.

     Gators - Members of the 6th Regiment Regular Army  

     Mary's - Linguists trained at the Army Language School in Monterey, California

     Diddy Boppers-Morse Code Interceptors - from Fort Devens, Massachusetts 

     MOS  - Our training and primary work assignment

     Newk, NUG (New ugly guy or new ugly girl) or Weeds - Newcomers had odd jobs around the Barracks until assigned to a trick

     Shirt - Person in Command, generally considered as an operations officer

     Techies - Trained at a number of Electronic Training Schools

     Tread or Retread - A re-enlistee.  Mostly Regular Army

     Tricks - Work Units. 3 shifts on every day.  Alternated 6 Days 8AM to 4PM/ 6 Days Swings 4PM to 12AM/ 6 Days Mids 12AM to   8AM.           Alternating 2 or 3 day breaks with a 4th trick off.  

     Trick Chief -  The NCO person in charge of a work unit. 

     When The Balloon Goes Up - Potential  military crisis.

Becoming Berliners 

Unlike the members of the 6th Regiment, most of the ASA Special Operators considered Andrews Barracks as a place to sleep and have an occasional meal or spend a little time between shifts at the PX, Day Room or Service Club.  Only a few personnel spent much of their free time in Andrews Barracks.  Berlin, an exciting city, was not too far from the barracks and most operators would go downtown to exerience the culture of Berlin. The notion that there might be a US Army practiced alert, or an unannounced inspection without us knowing about it was almost laughable - however; the rest of the Berlin 6th Regiment underwent these formalities regularly.  Frequent alerts from the Soviet side, however, were taken seriously and frequently kept us hopping.

Those working at the various sites were expected to wear fatigues.  Boots were required with fatigues, except that those working night shift were permitted to wear shoes or loafers. Class A uniforms were rarely worn except for an occasional military event. In general, personnel tended to dress casually.  When in civilian clothes, one was expected to wear a jacket and tie (tie requirement was not enforced).  

Virtually no ASA Operatives wore uniforms when off-duty.  We tried to become Berliners.

     Transportation to work sites was conducted in various fashion, depending on the location and numbers of personnel working that shift. Some respondents had use of a bus, while others rode in the back of a 3/4 ton truck or a 2.5 ton truck. Still others - especially those not living at Andrews, drove their own vehicles or took public transportation.   Many personnel owned cars.  They were required to be qualified by the Motor Pool to properly operate all Military Vehicles and qualify for an International Drivers License and Liability Insurance.

      Restrictions regarding places personnel could go to were few. The S-Bahn was strictly off-limits and a soldier was subject to court-martial if they did take it, and use of the U-Bahn was discouraged. Certain taxis - known to cross into East Berlin bearing a broken stripe around the middle were also off-limits. Personnel were strictly forbidden to cross over into East Berlin or East Germany.  

Travel beyond Berlin was restricted. One could neither fly out (except on a military flight) or drive the autobahn connecting Berlin and Helmstedt. Everyone was required to ride the duty train, while their cars were driven by courier to West Germany.

      In May 1959, all personnel were restricted when Khrushchev announced that the allies must leave Berlin.  These announcements were made frequently and generally involved use of the canal and roadway access by allied personnel to East Berlin, and threats to end Russian occupation status in East Berlin. (another Balloon Goes Up).  

     When off duty, the favorite off base entertainment was being with Berliners and enjoying the return of Berlin's historical culture at the Opera, Theater, Musical Venues at the Deutschland Halle, Titania Palast, Jagdschloss, and the Museums of West Berlin.   Another pastime was cruising the Kurfürstendamm, an expensive meal ($5) of chateaubriand and champagne at the Maison de France (Ku’damm) or the French Enlisted Men's Club where they served great escargots.  Travel outside of West Berlin was possible during ‘leave’, and travel/tour arrangements were available near Berlin Command.

     Sponsoring orphanages was a common practice by ASA units in Germany.  Our orphanage was KinderHaus am Fichtenberg at Schmidt-Ott-Str. and a special table was set up at the pay line to collect donations for the purchase of playground equipment, and for necessary PX items.  We would put on picnics and local sightseeing trips.   Support of this orphanage continued until the ASA was withdrawn from Berlin.