Thanks for the link.

For example, I am convinced that trains can be timely, inexpensive for passengers, and widely used, if properly supported by government. Americans hear this and presume a poorly managed boon-doggle. I say it depends on the managers.

In other words, living in Germany teaches you that the government doesn’t have to be incompetent, and that tax dollars can be used to provide meaningful and useful services. These ideas have zero traction in the US.

American citizens consider every dollar you give the government to be pissed away on something worthless (unless it is spent on a tank, fighter jet, or missile).

I have lots of stories from my teenage years living overseas, but most of them aren’t useful for this forum.

Here’s my mom’s hometown: http://www.altensteig.de/ceasy/modules/cms/main.php5?

Should say, Soviet citizens (or military personnel).

USSR always maintained they would never strike first and sold that to its citizens, but in the fog of war, how can you expect Soviets to really know who was attacking who?

In any case, what I was describing with the Fulda Gap has more to do with strategy of war, and how to control an area or region. Similiarly, Russian pushed into Georgia to ensure they controlled enemy access to South Ossetia and limited Georgian ability to respond.

Kannst du Deutsch reden?

Ja, Ich spreche Deutsche. However, I’ve lost probably 90% of my German language skills. My Russian is better than my German at this time. My high school in Frankfurt was an American school for US dependents stationed in Germany (Army, Air Force, and others). But I studied German throughout high school and had many opportunities to practice it (for example, talking to cute girls and smoking cigarettes near the German school across the street from our apartment).

Now that I think about it, my affection for foreign women has deep roots. I had a fling with a French woman from Bordeaux, France and a South African woman from Capetown also. Hmmm.

Also attended US schools when we lived in Herzogenaurach (home to Adidas and Puma shoes) and Nürnberg/Fürth. All told, we lived in West Germany for about 6 years.