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I was (US army) stationed for two years, 1966-67, with the 4th Battalion, 41st Artillery (Pershing Missile), at Hardt Kaserne in Schwaebisch Gmuend, about 60 kilometers east of Stuttgart. Memories? More than several pages! The town, the countryside, the people, Heubacher Bier, Schnitzel sandwiches, trips to Stuttgart, going out to discos, doing KP, and on and on...
Visvaldis- I had forgotten about the schnitzel, lol. Just made me remember how branded foods even tasted differently there. Ketchup was different.. even the Coke tasted different. Does anyone remember going through McDonald's and having to specifically ask for ice in your large Coke? Or.. paying extra for the ketchup packs? Strange times.
I stay in contact with the people I was closest to during that time.. unfortunately, I'm the only one out of the group that really makes the effort. It's sad, really. I love those guys and wish we were more cohesive. We spent a hell of a lot of time together and more often than not.. if you talk to any one of them, the memories that they treasure most are of our time together. And who are they going to share those memories with? Once we moved on.. those memories are like from another life.
Have been to Schwabish Gmund a few times. Lived in Schwabish Hall and used play little league baseball against that community. Of course, all of these "posts" have been long closed down over here. Probably around the time the Berlin Wall came down along with the Defense budget cuts and BRAC (Base closures) - now German military communities are very different. This past year communities in Darmstadt, Hanau closed - those were big ones.
We only have one hospital left (Landstuhl). Used to have 8-10 community sized hospitals over here in 1980-1990s. Heidelberg still has the Headquarters USAREUR. Stuttgart area has EUCOM HQ. Much has transferred to the Grafenewoehr area - lots of money being spent on new construction there.
Still have stuff in Wiesbaden, Schweinfurt, Vilseck, Ansbach/Illesheim/Katterbach and Kaiserslautern.
Its pretty expensive to live here, still. The schnitzel and bier taste just as good as it ever did.
Hey BucFan! Glad to hear the beer and schnitzel are still holding up without us.. you're stationed over there or a parent? Yeah, I heard my post in Friedberg closed last year.. that sucks for me but I'm sure the Germans don't mind. Would like to make a trip back sometime with a couple buddies.
We we stationed for several years in Germany. We loved Germany, but found the rudeness of the German people oppressive. We learned German and had most of our contacts in the German community. (Which may explain our experience.) We miss exploring new old towns and visiting other countries, but we love the friendliness of our present town. We still find it unusual at how friendly and nice people are where we live now. In Germany it was a nice surprise to find a friendly person. Here it is the same kind of surprise to find a rude one.
Wahineakamai,
"We" is that you and your significant other? It sounds like you had more contact with the German community than I did though my experience was very different from yours. Of course most of my interactions were with various individuals through shopping and traveling, etc. I did notice nuances of a culture different from my own and that can be expected, obviously.. but I would never characterize the majority of the people that I met during my time there as being generally 'unfriendly'. I did have some interaction with the family of girlfriends that belonged to my fellow G.I. "brothers"... and those memories are all positive ones as well. I'm sorry you had some bad experiences. Where are you stationed now or are you back stateside?
Wahineakamai,
I found that the German people in some areas were ruder than others. Most of the ones around schwienfurt were nice, but not so much in other areas. I loved the volksmarches and saw some beautiful country as well as met some nice people that way.
Visvaldis- I had forgotten about the schnitzel, lol. Just made me remember how branded foods even tasted differently there. Ketchup was different.. even the Coke tasted different. Does anyone remember going through McDonald's and having to specifically ask for ice in your large Coke? Or.. paying extra for the ketchup packs? Strange times.
Sigh...that's one thing I REALLY miss about Germany; the food! I loved the schnitzel with the different gravies. And McDonald's was interesting, too! I also miss the variety of pork sandwiches McDonald's offers in Europe (they eat more pork than we do) Witing for the McRib to come around every so often here in the U.S. is frustrating! And mayonnaise with french fries, too! I don't drink beer but it sure is nice that you can get it with your Big Mac in Europe! I also loved McDonald's in Holland, because they cooked the beef to "rare" and you had to ask if you wanted it it cooked longer.
Yeah.. the schnitzel was good.. and I miss the kebab shops, too. I totally forgot about mayonnaise! They love that stuff, no? Lol.. that's funny about the McRibs. I was never a big fan but I'm remembering a night run with one of my buds, now. Did you ever go to Oktoberfest? I see that you're not a big fan of the beer.. I appreciated it, I guess I should say, but I didn't drink much.. it was very different from the watered down American version (rice at the bottom of your glass).. though there were plenty of runs to the local Esso for a crate or two of those as well. Great times, definitely.
Did a TDY and stayed at the base in K town (Kaiserslauten) and commuted to Ramstein.I remember the night 8 of us packed into a Fiat and got caught in a traffic stop.The car in front of us was stopped by the Polizei and the driver was pulled out the window.I was later told that he refused to give blood so they took care of it. Still not sure if that was true or not!
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