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ScienceofSpock t1_jbyh4bq wrote

You know, I had a situation like this in the Army. I grew up as an Army brat, and we moved around quite a bit, including several deployments to Germany and Italy, the last one being Stuttgart where I graduated high school.

After I graduated and we were back in the US, I joined the Army and went to Basic in Ft. Jackson SC, and AIT in Ft. Gordon GA. At the end of AIT, we were all getting our permanent duty station assignments, and the vast majority of us were getting stationed to Berlin Brigade. At the time (1988), it was still walled in, East Germany still existed, and all that.

Many of these guys I went to basic and AIT with had never left their home town before, and were now being told that they were getting stationed to a walled-in city, that is completely surrounded by the Communist enemy halfway around the world. There were several guys CRYING like they were being deployed to front-line trenches in WWII. Me, being the worldly traveler that I was at 19 laughed and explained that despite what they THOUGHT, they were in for the time of their life, that Berlin was a VERY cool and modern city and that it was going to be, to paraphrase, "fucking incredible."

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Kickenkitchenkitten t1_jbzcpef wrote

It is my sincere belief that all Americans spend at least 3 months abroad.

We get wrapped up in the consumer lifestyle early. Spending some time abroad can really help us realize what's important.

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fatalButterfly t1_jc0etko wrote

Family who never left rural America were convinced there was so much snow when you hit the Canadian border that you traded your car for a dogsled

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ScienceofSpock t1_jc0pf2k wrote

To close out the story, we were there during some "fucking incredible" times. I was there from 88 - 92, and we were, sort of this continuance of defense of the city of Berlin against the Russians, who held East Berlin and East Germany since WWII. As such, we were allowed to wear the Berlin Brigade patch as a combat patch, after our tour there was over. I didn't reenlist, so I never got to do that, but just a neat fact. Well, while we were stationed there, Gorbachov opened the wall and gave East Berlin and East Germany back, so the reason for our unit to exist pretty much vanished in the span of a few months.

A mission that had been ongoing since WWII was finally accomplished. About 50 of us got assigned to HHC Berlin Brigade to basically remove the entire brigade from the area and back to the US before it was retired completely and the units reallocated. We were there for all of it. Helped tear down Checkpoint Charlie. Got to see the Roger Waters The Wall concert. Watched several NFL teams play exhibition "American Bowl" games in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Lots of cool stuff happened in a very short period of time, and I will never forget it.

I have a chunk of the wall on a plaque. It's a typical plaque like you might get at any trophy shop. It has an enameled map of the 4 "Sectors" of Berlin and a one and a half inch chunk of the wall as it's main features, and 2 brass text plates, one of which is crooked. It is one of my favorite things.

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