My 4+ years in Germany were among the most rewarding experiences of my entire life. The Army treated me very well, and most of the bad memories have faded.
Having said that, I would not recommend to any male that they enlist in the military. The chain of command has broken down, our senior officers have forgotten the lessons of Once an Eagle, favoring the career climbing tactics of Courtney Massengale over the stout leadership of Sam Damon.
The trump card in my deck was that I never planned on making the military a career. Why did I stay in 8 years, when I could've gotten out after 4? That's easy, I was having too much fun. I was back at Fort Bliss, working for my old battalion commander from Germany.
It was through Providence that we lived in the same apartment complex in El Paso. I was (lol) his "aide-de-camp", going out for beers or riding shotgun at bars and nightclubs. He offered me a job as his Operations Officer, a position young Captains normally aren't found.
My final objective was to have a Battery Command. Once I completed that job, I reached my ceiling. At that time, 60% of Captains were promoted to Major. I didn't like my chances, and I wasn't going to be stuck in lousy positions waiting to passed over twice before separation.
The experiences I had are not likely to be found today. The military ethos that was there before women were introduced into combat arms has been neutered. I was lucky, my unit (Chaparral/Vulcan, short range ADA) never allowed women into it. I saw what it did to Nike-Hercules batteries, the effect on morale when women were inserted there, before the facilities on site were upgraded to handle women. Nope, not for me.
LOLOL, I remember an incident in Germany, that surely would have ended my career, instead of receiving an apology from the Group Commander.
A black female 2nd LT was sent as a member of the evaluation team to inspect my S-4 (Supply Section). I couldn't be there, as I had to be in the Colonel's briefing, leaving my Spec 4 to handle any questions.
It wasn't his fault that he couldn't answer all of her questions, and I'm sure he was intimidated by the LT. Imagine my surprise when the Colonel stated, "the only issue we had was the financial management in the S-4 Section."
Before the Colonel reached his sedan, I was on the phone with the LT's boss, the Group S-4. I told him that LT was no longer welcome in my building, and I gave him the list of "problems" she found.
Apparently, my counterpart had a discussion with the Group Commander. That afternoon, my battalion commander called me into his office (same guy I'd go to work for at Fort Bliss). With a wry grin, he said "I just got off the phone with the Group Commander, he apologized for his comments about your section yesterday."
Apologies for the length, but I take the chain of command very seriously. Our officer corps' is much too political, and have strayed from performing the missions they are assigned to. I am not going to recommend to my sons and nephews that they join the military. I won't stop them, but I'll give them the facts they need before listening to a sweet talking, bull-spitting recruiting officer.
My boy made O-3 when he was 25, and a lot of people such as myself felt that he would go Career. He opted out though just because of issues related to the Field Grade Officers moving up as you mentioned. The last straw for him was his CO putting himself in for a Bronze Star when he never even was involved in combat operations in Iraq. He was very dissatisfied by the time he got into his 4th year. It seems likely that he will not encourage his own boy to go in, thus likely ending a 5 generation tradition of Army Service.
Incidentaly, I did my 3 years in K-Town, 77-80, easy duty. I went to a lot of Bases and Kasernes though. You were likely in Wildflecken, Hohenfels, Grafenwoer, or Vilsek, though there are multiple other possibilities.