Reseña del libro "Cold War Germany: Travels of the Most Reluctant Draftee (en Inglés)"
We wrote this book each in our own voice to describe the life of a "Draftee" and his "Dependent" during the Cold War in Germany in the early 1970s. The Cold War timeline is detailed by hyperlink up front and shows the full length of German "occupation" at the same time of Vietnam, Korea, and Chinese expansion. Together, we describe the major tension German civilians faced from the Russian nuclear threat while they struggled to make economic recovery just 25 years after losing World War II. This story is told as the whiff of plutonium covered Baden-Württemberg with Warsaw Forces lining up along the Czech/German border. Both sides rattled their chains every August when the NATO forces exercised at Grafenvöhr. The concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) prevailed. It was a fine balance of threatening but not using the "Red Button." The stress on troops keeping sharp and alert in "peacetime" took its toll with low morale, drugs and alcohol. Drafted Vietnam Vets, many given the choice of "jail or Army," came with bad attitude returning through Germany to serve out their time bringing their addictions and FTA attitude with them. For the most part, these kids came from rough backgrounds. So they were in Germany: pissed off, disoriented, disgusted and marking off every day until they could go back "to the World." Yet the story shows that not all drafted guys felt the battlefield. Many of our high school buddies went to the rice paddies to hunt "gooks" and some paid a heavy price. But most U.S. draftees were service providers working in finance, hospitals, mess halls, admin, or were MPs, nipple greasers, and truck mechanics. They built and repaired things, ran radio services and sang in the Army Choir in Heidelberg or taught at the Army Ski School. The book written 47 years after the events, shows that "what goes around, comes around" in that: - Germany still has a guest worker adoption problem from North Africa, the Balkans and Middle East - U.S. Army juveniles are still competing for drugs, girls and Stuttgart apartments, causing tension - NATO relations continue strained as Germany relies on Russia for energy while fearing invasion - U.S. military presence in Stuttgart appear to piss on General Rommel's hometown by just being there. It is also very personal story. At 21, we were trying to make a young cross-border marriage work, delay a career, and postpone kids while not getting slaughtered by the Baader-Meinhof Gang or getting caught up with the PLO at the Munich Olympics. We were compelled to live this "slice of life" as a Draftee, and we were very determined to make the best of it. And so we did. Together we: - learned German - visited every major museum, library, cathedral and ski field within the range of a Pershing 1A missile - drove 60,000 km in a brand new M.G. Midget (mostly with the top down) from the tip of Scotland to Croatia - flew free on Military Hops to Turkey, Morocco, Greece and Spain * camped on the parking lot at the Munich Olympics - hosted over 25 New Zealanders enjoying their OE The authors worked as service providers to the field personnel. Initially drafted into MOS15E20 (Nuclear Missile Crewman on Pershing 1A), Dean was moved to repair battalion financial records and then was seconded to 5th General Hospital Bad Cannstatt to screen malingerers for the shrinks before being assigned to advise on drug and alcohol abuse in the ranks. Nan worked as a "Foreign National" social worker within Pattonville, a large "on-Base" enlisted community with a myriad of problems. Skiing in Austria, we started a family, hitch-hiked through northern Morocco and took an early out to study Development Economics at Leeds University in England. This book gives detailed voice of life lived in Germany before the Wall came down and is written by a guy who uniquely returned to Czechoslovakia for the World Bank/IFC to help in the economic recovery of the East.
