For most of the time I was in Germany I tended bar part time at the NCO club at Robinson Barracks. It was a pretty good job to have and it supported my habit of trying to see as much as I could while I was stationed there. In fact most months I made more as a bar tender than I did as the NCOIC of the 5th RTMO. I was an E-5 receiving pro-pay and my take home was around $130.00. The worst month I had at the NCO club was about $110.00.
If you really want to see the ‘underside’ or the real Army in the early 60’s just drop by any NCO or enlisted man’s club. That was where you saw what people were like when drinks were cheap. Beer was only 25 cents and mixed drinks were 75 cents to a dollar. Some weekends I would ‘close’ on Saturday night and ‘open’ on Sunday morning. Same people both night and morning. Master Sgt. Peoples drank only Scotch and milk high balls at night (said he had an ulcer) and opened the bar with a beer and raw egg ‘floating’ in the beer. He was always waiting for me when I got to the bar at 0700.
I don’t have any pictures of the building and there isn’t anything on line that I could find. I do remember that is was just off the quad at Robinson Barracks. After McKiernan hired me he said they usually had a fight each Saturday night. Part of our job was to call the MP’s and then stop the fight. Yeah, RIGHT.
They also had some good professional entertainment, although just watching the soldiers and their dates was a lot of fun.
