Actually, no, it´s not "real" enough for me, since you have lost touch with reality. I couldn´t ride a bike when you "lived" in Germany, but I know how this country looks like today.
Some towns will suffer a lot, sure, but this hardly affects the state and by far noone on the federal level cares about it. The stats simply make all your points ridiculous. From 75,000 about the half GI´s will leave. So what? The last cut of the German army was larger, and nobody cared.
Who are you that you think we would honor people just to stop a troop pullout? Who do you think we are that we would even believe such an award could influence the American decision? LOL. Can´t imagine that we honor people just because they helped improve German-American relations - something I can´t expect from you, can I?
I just saw your post #35. You told it like it was, and good for you! You might be interested in my post #39.
This old cav trooper sends his condolences for your loss.
On the other hand, in his defense- Even in the US we have our share of Michael Moore's, Jane Fonda's and other sub-humans. Even we have the NYT’s, LA Times and other politically left oriented media that stir up the masses. Even we have politicians like Schroeder who will knowingly do things that can be harmful to our soldiers just because it’s politically advantageous to them (Kerry and his testimony-votes against funding the DoD in war, Boxer, Feinstein, etc). There are “weasels” on both sides of the pond. It was Americans who “spat” on some of our service members returning from Vietnam. It’s American liberal college professors today that deny this happened!
Germany at that time was also getting bombarded with Communist propaganda via the Communist Revolutionary Front, Radio Moscow etc. They even had people who were known antagonists that the DDR let travel back and fourth. The wall was not air tight if you were a communist willing to sell the party line in the FRG. People lived in the "real" fear of war and many were not to keen on that thought. Since you were stationed there you will remember REFORGER and the massive build up of forces there. We had 300,000 troops there. Canada, France, Netherlands, Great Britain had people there as well. Point is? Even though we didn’t really act like occupiers and were no bad guys, Germany was flooded with military forces, exercises were highly intrusive and the fear of war was a real fear for those living in the areas you were at. There was even competition for resources. There was a lack of places to live etc. Even in the US we had our anti-nuke, anti-Nicaragua, anti-Panama, anti-Vietnam war protests. All things considered, it wasn’t so bad in Germany then. If we had a dozen little posts through most of our towns and clogged up roads, inflated rental costs of homes etc. many people would also be annoyed in an average US town. Of course we brought them money, but people never see the good things. They always focus on the negative aspects.
Also remember that the loudest screaming whacko’s always get the most attention. The majority of Germans stayed at home, lived their lives and what you saw were the screaming idiots that today pierce their face and go to some alternative lifestyle parade.
The key difference between 1985 and 2003 is that the German government worked against the US in 2003. All awhile there were protests, whistles, water throwers, the government of Germany stood behind the US and we always knew it in 1985. In 2002 Schroeder went whacko on us. No prior coordination with the US, NATO or even within the EU, Schroerder out of pure political “Kalkuehl” (Calculation) went against the US and the rest of the institutions followed. His own cabinet hadn’t been informed! Germany fell into our back in 2002 and that is a break from the past. When they disagreed they used to be mute, abstain from voting and stay out of the issue. In 2003 they sabotaged us. This is a break from the “Realpolitik” of the past.
Red6