Re: G.I. "parolees?" status

[James Robert Dennis III <jrdennis@earthlink.net>]

>The US military has had the policy since World War I that an evader or
>escaper was not to be sent back into the same combat zone.  The reason for
>this is most salutary:  many of these fellows possessed knowledge of
>underground groups, escape routes, and the like, which the US was unwilling
>to expose to possible future interrogation.
>
>Also, those in possession of classified information are generally not
>allowed near a combat zone or other insecure area.  Thus, West Berlin was
>off-limits to a LOT of US military personnel until the Wall came down.  
>

The rule in 2d ID when I was there in the 80s was if you had a TS-SCI 
clearance, you could not get a "permanent" DMZ pass unless it was 
approved by the Division G2.  In most cases it was limited to a few 
Officers in the G2, the Radar People of the CEWI (MI) Battalion and the 
3d Bde S2 Section.  (I think I still have mine somewhere).  Even then 
they didn't want us to get closer than 50 meters to the Military 
Demarkation Line (MDL), any closer and you could be too easy a target for 
a snatch operation.  


When I was in Germany, because I knew Bde, Division and Corps War Plans, 
I could only go to Berlin on an approved Flight (USAF from Frankfurt to 
Berlin).  I could not drive the Autobahn or take the train.  If I went to 
Berlin, I could not cross into East Berlin.