We did a lot of our pre-Germany training at Shilo in 1974. Someone else was there at the same time, namely German armoured units zipping hither and yon in their Leopard tanks.

One of our guys spoke fluent German. He made a few friends amongst the Germans. One of them [VW] extended an invitation, "when you come over, if you're ever near [Kaserne], come visit."

And so we did.

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We had some culture shock when the gate guards asked to see our IDs, which for us was the size of a credit card.

"Is this all there is to it?" Their IDs, on the other hand, were closer to passport size.

They let us in anyway, after [VW] came for us.

His job then was Weapons Quartermaster, and he was on duty, so yes, he took us to his lair, the weapons room. Pistols, rifles, machine guns, and the peculiar permeating smell of gun oil.

"I have something interesting to show you", he said, pulling out an MG3 and stripping it down on the counter.

"Many of the parts were first used in the MG42" and then he showed us places where the Nazi Eagle logo had been partially machined out.

And that is when a rather high-ranking NCO came in, very high-ranking based on [VW]s reaction to him.

Picture it - three civilians, in a Bundeswehr weapons room, with the pieces of an MG3 spread out before us, looking like an arms deal being interrupted.

Rapid fire German followed between him and [VW] and the translation of what passed went kinda like:

Who are these people? Canadian soldiers.

Why are they here? Visiting me.

How did you meet? At Shilo, in the Spring.

How long are they here for? Not sure.

Keep them here until I return. Jawohl!

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We waited there while that NCO reported to the Kaserne commander. The upshot of that was "Have they seen this thing? Would they like to do the other thing? Would they like to drive a Leopard?"

Excuse me? Drive a Leopard???

Well, yes, we would, but ... what he was offering was an afternoon session in one of those beasts, as drivers and gunners. We just didn't have the time, what with having to catch our train. But, we did get to sit inside one at least.

No picture taking though. Strictly verboten!