Drag Race Central - NHRA
Sun, 02 Dec 2012, 16:38 PM

Summit Racing European Troop Visit Eddie Krawiec Blog
Courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment




The excitement level is just unbelievable. We've had people walk up to us, shake our hand, and say, "Wow, thank you.I appreciate you coming all the way over here, you know, traveling 5,000 miles and coming to see us." That gives me a warm feeling. They are very grateful for us coming, but I'm more grateful to meet them and see and learn about what they are doing. They're saying thank you and showing their appreciation for what we're doing. We appreciate what they do for us more!

Coming over here, I was expecting more of that military atmosphere-the strict stuff you always see on TV. What I've seen is a little more laid back, without a lot of saluting, but they all respect one another. The most interesting thing I saw today, speaking to all the colonels and higher-ranked officers, is they were just like us. Yes, they have a more important job than we do, but at the end of the day, they're all just individuals. They're regular people, but it's interesting to see how they support each other. It's more of a group or combined effort.

One of the highlights has been shooting some firearms at the firing range. Anytime you walk into a shooting range and you can fire an M4, a Glock, or anything, that's a pretty cool opportunity!

They also tried to con me into jumping out of an airplane, but I see no reason for it. I figured as long as I was on the ground, though, I'd try and put a parachute on and was successful. I'm rather impressed by the guys that jump. The gear is like a huge jigsaw puzzle. The key piece is obviously the parachute, plus a 70-pound rigging system and another 150-200 pounds of gear and accessories. Once you have everything on, it's like 250 pounds worth of equipment, and you've got to jump out of a plane with it all. And when you land on the ground, you have to be quick and get moving. That takes a real man!


dining facility included an autograph session for the soldiers.

Dan Runte and Wayne Reed, from the Special Forces Association
and an organizer of the program.

the Summit Racing group to the shooting range
and then instructed them on the use of
the Glock 19 9mm pistol and the M4 rifle.

Under the watchful eye of a Special Forces instructor,
Greg Anderson experiences an M4 rifle.

the Summit Racing/Harley-Davidson group and paused for this photo

when the Summit Racing team visited the parachute-rigging facility -

Andrew Hines outside the Navy Seals facility on the Panzer Kaserne just before
the Summit Racing group had an unexpected and fascinating guided tour of it.

scrambled onto the military's workhorse to mug for the camera.

Sgt. 1st Class Russell W. Nehmer (center) brought the Summit team to the various

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