For most of the Cold War, the two US units that the Russians got to see the most of were the troopers of the 2nd and 11th ACRs, the infamous Border Dawgs!
You know you are a Border Dawg when...
Driving up the side of a mountain, in a snow storm, in a hard top jeep, is just going to work!
When you leave the border camps for a patrol and you take the mess hall's rancid peanut butter and jam sandwichs, toss them in the ditch and stop by the local gausthaus for lunch.
When hanging off of a 80% slope on dismounted patrol, while carrying a Prick 77, an M-16 and your ready ammunition, and it starts to sleet, everybody starts cracking jokes about "Being All You Can Be!"
While on dismounted patrol, climbing a certain mountain, you get to experience sleet, hail and blizzard conditions, within the first 200 meters of the patrol. In July.
When you have been on top of a certain mountain on OP and its time to continue your mounted patrol and squadron won't release you because their duty radio operator, forgot to write down the time you arrived on station.
When the Hind flys by and the pilot flips you off, the patrol spins and moons the commie bastard!
While the crowd of tourists are oohing and aweing at thier first look at the Iron Curtin, four, muddy, tired, troopers wearing camo face paint stop by, look over the vista and report "Sierra Sierra, Delta, Delta (Same Shit, Different Day)".
When you escort the US Congressman from California; and at a static OP site, he gets out to look at the border, takes one step too far and slides down the mountain 100 meters. On the plus side, he neglects to keep his legs closed and he hits the tree, balls-first! Serves him right for voting no on that year's military pay raise!!!
When you've patrolled the same stretch of the German-Czech border for so long, that you can id all of the Czech guard dogs that you encounter.
By their smell.
When your hard topped jeep breaks down, instead of pushing the piece o'crud off the road, the patrol just picks it up and moves it the shoulder.
When even the BGS won't go into the thicket of thorns because it is too dense, but you will, becuase your idiot of a 2nd looie wants you to evaluate the area for dismounted operations.
When the Squadron Border Officer comes down to inspect your patrol and finds himself face down in a muddy ditch with M-16s pointing at him....and all because he was in the 1 kilometer zone and forgot the password.
When it comes time for your Squadron to rotate for tank gunnery, and the Military Intelligence Battalion moves up to take a turn at patrol....and you run thier candy behinds ragged for the required three patrols. And yes, we did set it up for them to run their patrols in the worst weather in the Alps in twenty years!
and finally....
Ya know you are a Border Dawg when you see the party of Red Army officers climb the looktout stand to look over the border and the first thing they see is a patrol of Border Dawgs, always ready.