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06 Maestro -> RE: English is Easy? (10/12/2008 6:43:14 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Ike99
[If it was ¨selfless¨ as you say then why do you keep talking about it all the time as if they owe you something!! If it was true so ¨selfless¨ you wouldn´t say anything about it at all now would you?
Well Ike99, the deployment was to a very large degree, a selfless task. Billions of dollars were pumped into the German economy by the US presence there, and not much was asked in return. It is true that we got something in return; being able to counter a threat to the U.S. thousands of miles from home instead of right in our front yard. On the other hand, Germany, and all of Western Europe were able to maintain their freedom. Keep in mind that the U.S. could have easily turned its back on Europe and still had been quite safe-Germany would have been a "workers paradise" long ago. In view of the great success of "free trade", especially the one sided type, I know that the U.S. would have been much better off to become isolationist-except those that play by the same rules.
It could be said we were the the "gravy train" for Germany. Not only were billions pumped into the economy by the normal means, but there were other little benefits. Occasionally, during winter only, the U.S. Army would conduct exercises in local areas instead of the major training bases such as Graffenweer (spell?), Hohenfells, and a couple of others. In every village, the people would come out to right down our convoy numbers so they could cash in on payouts for anything we allegedly damaged (streets, curbs, fencing, etc.) I know that on occasions, the damage was not cause by us-they were simply suckling on Uncle Sam. Farm fields were another great source of income-even without crops, due to our presence. IIRC, it was ten dollars a lineal foot of track rut in a field-and there were a lot of them. These local training areas were necessary to use as we were training to fight, and win being out numbered at least 5 to one-it was for the common cause. There was on uproar when the American public found out about a few 600 dollar toilet seats for the Air Force-good thing they never heard about the farm field ruts. Speaking of farms, a German farmer visiting us in the field told my platoon he was happy to have the U.S. Army using his land because, "Americans bury there crap, the other armies just leave it on the ground.
As for the actual presence of ground units in Germany; they were essential to the Western defensive strategy. I surely hope that no one here believes that the U.S. would have fired a nuke at Moscow as soon as the first Polish mortar round hit FRG's soil. There would have to be a real ground war, a war involving U.S. troops, before anyone would support the use of strategic nukes. The threat of tactical nukes is what made the Russians hold back. In particular, the development of the "neutron bomb", with its low blast yield, brought an end to any Soviet plans (even with their silly anti radiation pills) for a conventional war in Western Europe.
I have to agree with you that U.S. motives are not 100% altruistic, but judging on a curve, the U.S. looks pretty damn good in comparison to the rest of the world. Germans, and others have been gracious in their thanks to Americans; I've witnessed this many times-even from those which lived near major support facilities full of wanna be pimps (rear echelon types).
I don't recall having seen an American soliciting thanks for our real national and personal sacrifice unless someone states (or insinuates) that our efforts were meaningless, or selfish. Such statements are clearly false, and many Americans will feel obliged to respond. Do not misunderstand, I am not saying the U.S. is beyond criticism, but it should be factual-from my point of view, of course.[8D]
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