AMAA – Germans’ Feelings About USA Military Bases in Germany – Average Middle Aged American Reaction

AMAA – Germans’ Feelings About USA Military Bases in Germany – Average Middle Aged American Reaction

hey guys it’s your average middleaged American back again with another reaction video I’m going to try this again without looking just did a video from fely on things that she would fix about America and I literally spent three hours defending America arguing with a monitor I don’t even know if I’m going to publish it because I know I’m just going to get a bunch of backlash it was everything from gun control to health care and you know I think we had enough of that I don’t know maybe I’ll publish it in the future for other people but most of my subscribers are European and they just don’t like it when I defend America so we’ll try this one US military bases in Germany how do Germans feel about it oh boy I know how I feel about it Cas you didn’t know America has about 800 military bases across the world the idea is that the United States is so isolated uh that we need to have satellite areas bases not satellite in outer space of course we have those too but satellite bases across the world got a ton in Africa and Europe and it’s just kind of you know to keep everybody in [Laughter] line come on T give it to me give it to me but it kind of is I mean I’ll be honest with you oh God this is going to go south as you know we’re the most powerful military in the world by far we spend more than the next nine militaries in the world combined so every year we have more aircraft carriers than everybody else in the world combined and somehow it became our job to police the world now obviously were trying to stay out of the Ukraine but clearly we’re giving them quite a bit of Aid and military hardware so anyway we have bases in Germany unlike other unnamed countries after World War II we gave our little section of Germany back we didn’t try to keep it but we have military bases there so let’s see what she has to say I am interested I’m going to try to keep it light-hearted hopefully it will stay that way before I start I I really do love you guys I know that we don’t always agree on everything um most of my subscribers are European the they just are at this point and I appreciate all of you I appreciate the the knowledge most of my subscribers are older demographically um so I have older wiser Europeans you know giving me information and educating me and I do appreciate it we may not always agree on everything you know I got 53 years of us patriotism you know jacked up in in my head we’re not always going to agree but I have learned a lot already and it’s only been two months since I started this channel so I do appreciate you I know that I ramble a lot you know I hope you get some entertainment out of it and I hope that maybe I you know can Enlighten some other people on America that you know they might be misinformed or not informed at all I can’t even name all all the countries in Europe that’s a sad fact I think you you know you got somewhere between 47 and 50 depending on who you ask but I can’t even name them all so I’m learning every day and the idea is the wife and I are going to be start doing some some traveling internationally um probably start in the UK Germany has really kind of caught my attention it just is it’s the most beautiful place I’ve seen so far on the internet and I know everyone says Italy Italy Italy but so far Germany is it so anyway just wanted to say that enough jibber jabber you haven’t subscribed already hit hit the button doesn’t hurt you it helps me hit that thumbs up button it helps me in the algorithm you know my videos don’t always look like they’re a lot of work but they can be I just spent three and a half hours arguing with the with a with a computer monitor and I probably won’t even publish it so I had no idea I thought it was going to be a light-hearted video let’s fix a few things in America your toast is terrible and your butter is terrible and no it went health care and guns and it it went off it went off the rails all right let’s go let’s start it’s 2024 almost 80 years after the end of World War II and the US still has about 35,000 troops stationed in Germany in more than 20 US military bases how do Germans feel about that hello savos and welcome back to my YouTube channel my name is phy I’m originally from Munich Germany but I’ve been living here in Cincinnati Ohio on and off since 2016 and today I want to talk about a question that has come up again and again every time I ask you guys what you want to know from us Germans for my ask a German category and this is one of the more complex and somewhat controversial topics what do Germans really think of the American Military basis in our country now to provide a proper answer to this question I actually asked my community on Instagram particularly my German followers about their views on this topic and the responses were super interesting so I’m really excited to share them with you but first let’s talk about some of the heart facts why does the oh I’m so scared I just want a nice fun light-hearted video just say America keeps Russia away from us and we appreciate them and it’s neat to see American potato chips and let’s just move on the US even have military bases in Germany to begin with as you guys know after the end of World War II Germany was divided into four different occupation zones between the Soviet Union the UK France and the us while the Soviet occupation Zone which later became the gdr or in German D didn’t become sovereign until the 1990s when East and West Germany finally reunified the occupation in West Germany was officially terminated with the Paris Accords in 1954 but it still allowed the Allied powers and a few other NATO members to have military station in Germany for defense purposes and with the cold war going on that came in very handy so for decades German was home to military troops from the UK France the Netherlands Belgium Canada and of course the US with the end of the Cold War most of these countries didn’t have any need to maintain their military bases in Germany so they pulled their troops almost entirely the UK reduced their military presence from about 60,000 in 1988 to only about 300 today now the US also gradually removed the majority of their over 250,00 000 forces but they still have about 35,000 on more than 20 military bases in Germany today which means that they’re the strongest foreign military presence within Germany and from a US point of view the largest US military presence in all of Europe and after Japan the second largest in the world and it’s arguably the most important one outside of the US because out of six Regional combatant commands of the US military two of them are headquartered in stutgart Germany africam the United States African command which is responsible for all military operations in Africa except for Egypt and the European command ukom which is responsible for all of Europe the Caucasus Russia and Greenland now back in 20120 president Trump actually planned to withdraw about 12,000 troops from Germany so about onethird but those plans weren’t approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate and when the Biden Administration took over in 2021 they dismissed that and instead decided to add 500 extra military forces in Germany Trump’s official reasoning at the time was that he wanted to punish Germany for not meeting the NATO expectation of spending 2% of its GDP on defense but most experts pointed out that this wouldn’t have any advantages for the US Lieutenant General no it doesn’t have any advantages but why why isn’t Germany paying their fair share I mean they’re one of the richest countries in the world well why aren’t they paying what they agreed to pay we don’t need to get too political but you know everyone thinks Trump’s an idiot Trump’s this Trump’s that all Trump was trying to do was was stop America from paying for everything everywhere which is what we do just look at the Ukraine you know look at Israel you know everyone gets in a fight and they come come run into us so I mean it’s a fair question let me know down in the down in the comments why why why aren’t other countries paying what they promise to pay Germany’s not struggling I think they have the number three or number four best economy in the world you know let me know semi- trademark General Ben Hodes who used to command the United States Army Europe said the troops are not there to guard Germany they’re stationed there for us Germany is a platform that allows us to do rapid reinforcements it’s both me let’s get real the German military is not even close to the United States military so it’s it’s both it’s to protect Europe and it’s to help us us to protect the United States without being in the United States so it’s it’s a it’s good for both but no it doesn’t we shoot ourselves in the foot if we pull everyone out that doesn’t make any sense either in Eastern Europe for example as well as other places he also said this is a complete gift to the Kremlin a 30% reduction of us capability in Germany dis eruption and further damage to our most important relationships and the Russians didn’t do one single thing to earn this again this was in July of 20120 so about 1 and a half years before Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022 so at the end of the day the American troops stay and when we look at how they’re divided amongst branches numbers from 2016 show that most of them are in the US Army then the Air Force Marine Corps the Navy and a small amount is in the Coast Guard geographically most of the bases can be found in the German states of I have no idea why 10 Coast Guard guys are there the only thing I can think of is maybe for communication to you know from Germany to America just to you got 10 guys that are in charge of communicating back to the Coast Guard in [Music] America I’m sure those 10 guys can’t do anything that the Army Navy Air Force or Marines can’t do it is interesting though B ven Bavaria and at the top of the list Rand fight where more than half of American forces are stationed that’s also where the Ramin Airbase is located which is the biggest and probably most famous US base in Germany it’s right by the city of kaas laan and yes that’s also the air base that the German metal band Ramin is named after except that the band is spelled with double m and I know I still owe you guys an update on that whole story I’m honest it I promise together with other US military locations in the region it forms the kaas laan military Community where according to official numbers almost 60,000 American Service members and civilian employees live and work that includes military personnel their families US contractors and other civilian employees they also employ thousands of German Workers and they’re the largest US military Community outside of the US it’s literally like a little America there they use the US dollar as the currency they have American stores American restaurant chains malls American schools for the kids and aort that when you ship packages to the US from there you only pay domestic shipping fees because it’s literally as if you were in the US however the bases are that’s standard for any base yeah like even our like aircraft carriers have stores in them that you know have all American junk food and whatever that’s cool though it’s like a whole town unfortunately off limits to German civilians unless they’re affiliated with someone in the US military which apparently used to be different prior to 911 nevertheless American military bases often have a significant positive impact on the local economy it’s estimated that their presence generates a yearly economic boost of4 billion US in Germany which if those numbers are true is a lot more than the amount of money that the German government spends on the the American bases in terms of subsidies and the land that’s provided now legally these American military bases are still German territory where German law applies but there are agreements between Germany and the US that Grant the basis certain tax benefits and Immunity which as a result also means that German law enforcement can’t access the bases without permission from American authorities yeah it should be treated just like a a um Embassy I would think I mean I guess they’re still calling it German land whereas an embassy is not on the land of whatever Nation it’s physically on it’s on the it’s land for the nation that owns it I would have thought that the military bases would be the same way but whatever they know more about it than I knew German police in those regions therefore often Patrol together with American Military Police because the German police alone wouldn’t be able to enforce any laws when it comes to US military members and their families Okay so we’ve talked about the numbers and laws and historical backgrounds but what do Germans think about the American Military presence in their country if you had asked me this question eight years ago before I ever moved to the US I honestly wouldn’t have had an opinion on this I mean I didn’t grow up near an American Military base and I didn’t have any other personal connection to this topic through a family member or anything thing so this wasn’t a topic that I was ever in touch with really there wasn’t a single incident in my life where the American troops being in Germany seemed to affect me or my life in any way neither in a positive nor in a negative way I mean it might have on a bigger scale but not in a way that it was ever brought up in a conversation I don’t even remember discussing this in school I don’t know if we ever did I mean I knew that there were American military bases and I knew that back in the 80s there was a terrible accident on the Ramin Air Base but that’s about it it really wasn’t until after I moved to the US and became part of this German American bubble that I met people and got messages from people that used to be stationed in Germany themselves I met German women at the American Consulate in Frankfurt who had just gotten married to an American Military member I met so-called Army brats so people who grew up in an American military family in Germany and I heard about how these military settlements are truly like a little America in the middle of ger so I learned a lot about this topic but to be completely honest with you I still don’t really have a strong opinion as to whether having American troops in Germany is good or bad I can see both the pros and the cons and we’ll talk about those but I don’t know what the best course of action would be so I’m not of great help here but I came across a few surveys on this topic two of them are from the summer of 2020 right after Trump had announced his plans to withdraw a third of the troops this survey conducted by Yuga for DPA a showed that almost half were in favor of the withdrawal 25% even thought that American troops should leave Germany altogether while about onethird of those surveyed thought that the American Military should stay in Germany or even increase their forces and 21% didn’t select an option that would have been me probably but then another survey that was conducted at the same time for the German magazine Dasa had about half of people opposed to the withdrawal with only 36% supporting it so it was almost FL which shows that the situation really isn’t straightforward and a lot of people are conflicted about this now one aspect that German opinions were pretty clear about for a long time are the nuclear weapons that the American Military stores on German ground these surveys by Green Piece from 2019 and 2020 show that 84% of Germans wanted the nuclear weapons out of Germany in the ugu survey from 2020 it was 2third of Germans so a clear majority however a more recent survey from June of 2022 about four months after Russia attacked Ukraine showed that for the first time more than half of Germans wanted the American nuclear weapons to stay in Germany it’s exactly the same as the police nobody wants the police until they need the police you know I mean it’s look it’s a perfect example how nothing changed other than a country invading another country then all of a sudden opinion changed had nothing to do with America had nothing to do with Germany and Wham now more people want nukes in Germany and 12% even wanted them to be modernized the number of people in favor of removing the nuclear weapons was at only 39% in this survey the main points of criticism about the American Military basis are that the German government doesn’t really know what exactly is going on on the bases and whether or not German law is being violated over the last decade there have been numerous reports about drone attacks being controlled from Ramin potentially killing hundreds of civilians in countries like Yemen Afghanistan or Iraq the German government has even been sued by yemenese survivors who lost relatives in a drone strike the first Court ruled that the German government does in fact have to make sure that activities taking place on German ground follow international law but the decision was overturned by a second Court then that was appealed and now the case is going to The Bu which is similar to the Supreme Court in addition to the Drone controversy there were headlines about NSA surveillance violations or the case of an Imam who was kidnapped by the CIA in Milan Italy in 2003 and brought to the Ramin Airbase from where he was transported to Egypt where he was imprisoned and according to his own statements tortured none of that is in line with German or international law war on terror it is what it is these are only a few of the incidents that have received a lot of media attention but many Germans are afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg but let’s see how my German followers feel about this I actually got a lot of messages from you guys thank you so much to everyone who reached out and share their views and personal experiences I’m not going to be able to read all of them to you guys but I’ll put a lot of them on the screen for you so you can just pause to read if you’re interested in the details also these answers are actually all from June of 23 cuz that’s when I first asked about this topic it just took me a while to put together the video but better late than never so just keep in mind that these are from June of 2023 might be relevant for political context I’m going to go through some messages that are rather positive some were more negative and a lot of people had very mixed feelings about the topic but I particularly loved hearing about people’s personal experiences with the military bases so I’m going to start with that Anna wrote I was born in bad then lived in kisas laan and worked for urologist in L directly at the Raman Airbase we had a lot of patients from the military and everything in the region is bilingual at McDonald’s the drive-through says by McDonald’s welcome to McDonald’s your order please as a kid I used to be woken up in the morning by military groups out on a run the ones that sing or chant these songs while running fighter jets were completely normal for me and then later in laan the military planes from Afghanistan that brought injured soldiers and fallen heroes to Ramstein before they flew home to the states I’m a pacifist and had to grow a thick skin whenever these planes landed and they come several times a day for 24 hours there are no nightflight restrictions I now live on the North Sea Coast but I feel relatively safe because I know that Raman exists Raman is very important to the USA as a NATO partner they would always support us so I’m glad that we still have the few remaining bases Dominic wrote that he grew up about 15 minutes away from the bases graphen and H fits his message was really long so I’m going to skip through it a bit but he said on the other side of the road there were whole neighborhoods with American families mostly officers they were even allowed to bring their cars from America when they were sent to Germany I like the American influence why would anybody bring their car from America to Germany when you could get a BMW or Mercedes or a Porsche or an Audi can you guys do you guys lease cars I know you’re big into renting apartments you know renting homes do you rent cars do you lease cars also or do you have to buy a car and what’s the price give me a price of a a BMW 528 or whatever the base model 5 series is nowadays let me know what you can really buy one of those for please curious I’ve had a couple of Beamers and I know they had a deal where you could you could order a BMW fly to Germany drive it and then they would ship it back to America and it was supposed to be cheaper to do that with the whole trip and everything everything than it is just to buy one in America so let me know I’m curious about the price you know Baseline 3 Series Baseline 5 series I don’t need an M4 or anything well I do but I can’t in the area especially on Halloween you could tell which houses were American there are so many American products and foods to buy that you don’t get anywhere else there are German American festivals at the basis every year which is also a cool experience if you want to go to the Festival you have to go through checkpoints and security screenings which can be quite the adventure when heavily armed soldiers ask you in English to open all the car doors and sniff around with bomb dogs they’re random controls of course but I’ve had the pleasure I got to know a lot of Americans even at Village festivals and made some good friends unfortunately they’re not stationed there forever and my friend Corey for example had to go back to the USA there was also the possibility of getting onto the base with connections Cory for example could bring five people with him under his supervision and then you could shop at the American stores which really import everything from the US to make you feel at home I even bought a huge bottle of ibuprofene in a regular store not a pharmacy quick explanation in Germany you can’t buy over-the-counter medication like ibuprofen or other painkillers at a supermarket or a regular drugstore you always have to go to a dedicated Pharmacy and ibuprofen for example is also pretty expensive in Germany compared to the US and you’ll only get like packs of I don’t even know what the maximum is like maybe 20 per pack or something like that and there are American guys you guys have drug companies in Germany why would why would ibuprofen be expensive people always talk about America being expensive for drugs I’m going to show you something it’s going to blow your mind you’re German and you think ibuprofen is expensive so here you can order Amazon brand see Amazon’s making everything now ibuprofen 200 mgram 1,000 tablets for $18 that’s two cents a piece I was going to try to show it to you but it’s got my shipping information and everything so yeah two two cents a tablet and and they’ll deliver it to my house tomorrow for free fast food chains like Taco Bell popey’s Charlie’s cheese steaks and so on that don’t usually exist in Germany I’ve tried them all of course if you pay in Euros you’ll get your change back in US Dollars one time around Thanksgiving we bought a huge turkey which I have never seen in Germany but everything you buy has to be taxed afterwards with a tax card at German Customs so it’s like a piece of America in Germany there are also cars everywhere like the ones you would see driving around in the US and when you’re out on the road you can often immediately tell which cars belong to an American because they are models that don’t exist here and because the license plates izes conclusion my English has become really good thanks to the many contacts with Americans but of course there are negative aspects too the military training area takes up a lot of space and you can hear them practicing from very far away artillery fire for example the grenades hitting depending on where you live the windows sometimes Rattle and the ground vibrates the Americans also fly wounded people to the hospitals with huge Blackhawks it’s a bit scary too but I personally appreciate their presence on the one hand you feel safer because they have a lot of weapons and equipment on site in case of War but you also feel unsafe for the same reason it would be an important Target for enemies but having sort of a portal just around the corner in Germany that leads you to the US is something special without having to fly for 10 hours if you speak good English you can also work there at a library for example I also had quite a few people message me that they met their American husbands because of the military bases and even a few Army brats so the children of those relationships reached out paused to read their full [Music] messages someone also said that they started playing baseball because the Americans in the region started a baseball club which sounds really cool and here are a few more positive experiences my father grew up in the American Quarter in Frankfurt so as a German he was already fluent in English at the age of six just like all the other six-year-old Americans in the neighborhood when I was a child there were lots of amies here in the Rin mine area and we loved it we were allowed to go to the American festivals and there was soft serf ice cream in the early 80s the military often drove through our little village to hold exercises in the forest that was always very exciting and we would wave at them since the soldiers already knew that we were waiting for them they always threw us some American candy so I only had positive memories and experiences with the soldiers stationed here but now there’s hardly any sign of them here but to some people this also feels a bit off I’m from near stutgart there are a few Barracks there one of them is right next to the university where I studied you can see the facilities but everything is top secret the African command is there which monitors all military operations on the African continent it’s pretty crazy because I can’t imagine that the reverse would happen in Many Nations that foreign military bases are built at will some of them are enormous in size and important for all kinds of operations I don’t think it’s good from time to time you meet some of these people there’s also a high school in bingan and they’re really nice and easygoing you know typical American but as a German you just have a more critical view of the military and the ongoing operations simply due to history I’m sure you can judge that better but the military just has a different societal status and position in the states the bundes vea is more of a laughing stock here yes I can definitely attest to that I don’t necessarily know if the bundes vaa is a laughing stock there have definitely been been instances over the last few years where things went terribly wrong with equipment and helicopters that didn’t work etc and when I came to the US I was definitely surprised to hear about all of these perks that military members and Veterans have I mean there is several holidays for people in the military and Veterans um they get all these discounts at you know things like health insurance and all of those official programs and even when flying um military members often get to board first and those are all things that I never really encountered in Germany ever um the military doesn’t really play a big role I maybe know like one person um but not very closely anymore who is in the military and it’s not something that has a super high reputation in Germany I don’t think a lot of people would go up to someone in the bundes and thank them for their service which I don’t know if that’s good or bad uh it’s a it’s a big topic we don’t have to get into that a whole lot but long story short yes I can attest to what this person said about the different societal status I also actually had a few people reach out for this topic who are in the German military so the bundes or who used to be I was deployed as a so-called German guard with the bundes at Ramin Air Force Base and loved my time there Little America with all its products you could even buy a Ford Mustang there I still had to do the 15 months of basic military service for context up until 2011 Germany had this mandatory military training uh for men at the age of 18 um they either had to do that or they could do something called Civ instead which was like a a civil service where you could work at a hospital um or some kind of social institution but yeah they got rid of that in 2011 among other things I was at the graph military training area which belongs to the US Armed Forces I also know the Ramin Airbase from visits to the Ramin Bazaar I have no problem with the international cooperation and stationing due to the current developments in particular it is certainly not entirely wrong to be part of a functioning Alliance that serves as is a counterweight in a worst casee scenario the example of Ukraine is a good illustration of the fact that some Statesmen who have access to the necessary pool of armed forces are not necessarily interested in negotiations when political problems occur and unfortunately there are too many such Statesmen who are out to caar Rus a lot of people actually brought up the Ukraine war in this context I’ve been driving through gra and fek and it somehow feels like a different world it’s true American cars signs on stores in English lots of signs saying danger of Life do not enter or simply roads that you’re not allowed to drive on because you would be entering military grounds it all has its pros and cons and yes in principle it is good and during the early days of the Ukraine war I also felt a little safer because the Americans had over 10,000 soldiers stationed in the immediate vicinity Rene again a bundes soldier said I think cooperation between our Armed Forces is important and it makes me feel safer especially with the current Putin situation where does someone like Putin stop if we don’t let our Watchdog growl I would imagine that we will very quickly suffer a similar fate to the ukrainians only with a quicker bad ending I appreciate this large community and NATO’s sense of security another message said I’m aware of them and it doesn’t bother me at all on the contrary they exist because of the NATO and are part of what protects us since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2014 but especially since the start of the Russian fullscale invasion last year I’m very glad that we don’t stand alone the only thing that bothers me is the use of air bases in Germany for Target killings with the help of drones killing someone who is not actively engaging in a war is simply murder May that person be a ter no no terrorism is murder killing a terrorist is not murder we’re at war war on terror we declared it and we’re going to finish it terrorist or not a democratic country should give people a fair trial to defend themselves if that’s not an option just killing them is the wrong way no I’m aware of the existence of military bases in Germany since I live close to L none of them exist close to me they don’t bother me the US is a military ally of us and it’s for our safety against Russia I’m a ambivalent on the one hand the US military has created many civilian jobs on the other hand the combat drones in the East were controlled from Ramin in times of a war in Ukraine I don’t think it’s such a bad thing to have NATO troops in the country who can intervene very quickly if necessary as I said a lot of the messages were a little mixed like this one generally speaking the bases are more of a net positive for Germany itself cultural exchange economic impact and security of course However the fact that the USA itself has such internal political problems that the basis could now be seen as a danger and used for arbitrary imperialism is problematic as someone who has lived in many countries I see the presence of the Americans as rather positive but what these bases do and what they stand for is becoming more and more of a problem morally from my point of view but I can’t think of any alternative without worsening relations with the states I’m a bit torn the fact that they’re all in southern Germany has probably also shaped the image of Germany in the USA yep that’s definitely a big factor I actually made a video about that topic last year I’ll link that for you guys up here and down below as a North German that’s always disconcerting the fact that imperialistic bad habits of the USA also run via Ramstein is also negative talking about drone Pilots good is that they brought rock and roll to Germany and money after World War II the topic of military basis doesn’t bother me in any way I think it’s a shame that since 911 you no longer have the chance to visit them they could be great cultural hubs in addition to their military use they often have pretty cool concerts taking place there for example they also have American brands Etc on the negative side it’s just pretty pathetic that we need these things we’re just not getting our own defense on track enough especially during Times Like These we should be able to take care of it ourselves I’m quite skeptical about the whole thing especially because I find the whole American weapons and Military culture very strange but well it’s a different culture throughout the Cold War there were always two views on the issue of American soldiers and weapons being stationed in Germany either it would make Germany a Target or it would make Germany safer nowadays I no longer see any tactical reason for the deployment the only reason for me to support it would be to bring America and Germany closer together again especially when it comes to standing United against aggressors like Russia the friendship between the USA and Germany is something worth striving for in my eyes and if the deployment of US soldiers can contribute to this then I can accept that nevertheless the whole thing doesn’t feel perfectly right after all there are foreign soldiers on our soil I really only got a okay foreign solders on your soil technically we could have just taken that land right I mean am I wrong let me know if I’m wrong but I mean I’m pretty sure that World War II Germany lost their country so the negotiation was we’re going to be your ally we’re going to help you we’re going to help you economically we’re going to help you militarily we’re going to put bases in your country I know that’s a overly simplified thing but let me know if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure we had control of a good chunk of your country you m and I’m pretty sure that we had something to do with you getting your land back from Russia let me know if I’m wrong mes that had a purely negative opinion about this topic such as this message I think the US Army has to get out of Germany this has bothered me ever since the reunification the military bases are a recurring topic among my friends and relatives nobody around me wants them honestly it feels like soft occupation sometimes many countries are influenced by the US to varying degrees but we are among the few who don’t even get a say in it it’s been almost 80 years since the war ended even the Soviets left some 55 years ago it’s time for amig go home okay so Ami in German is colloquial for an American and amig go home was a slogan that was used a lot after World War II especially in East Germany and the Soviet Union there was even a song with that name and it was then later also used during the Vietnam war and in the early 2000s in ref refence to the Iraq War I consider the American nuclear weapons stored here to be a risk for us if the Russians should ever get the idea to go further and attack NATO no matter which country will be a Target and I also got some messages from people they attack NATO you’ll be at War by default you’re a NATO member you’re required by NATO agreement to go to war if any other member of NATO is attacked so if you’re going to complain at least know what you’re talking about that said that they’ve really never been in touch with this topic and don’t really know enough about it to have an opinion kind of like I used to be all in all this is definitely a very multifaceted topic but I hope this video helped answer the question about how Germans feel about it thank you so much to everyone who shared their opinion I’m also going to put some of the messages that I haven’t gotten to yet on the screen at the end of the video but what do you guys think about this topic feel free to add your opinion or personal experience in the comments below just make sure to stay respectful I know this can be kind of a Hot Topic but I really loved hearing all of these different perspectives from you guys so I’m excited to continue the discussion in the comment section and with that thank you guys so much for watching don’t forget to subscribe and I hope I’ll see you next time cheers all right well that was interesting um yeah you know I mean it’s just typical I think probably younger people or well I guess not no seemed like they were both younger people are easier to adapt and but also younger people are naive to the fact of why we’re there and of course they’re entitled to have their own opinion but you know it’s not like we just took over a city or something you know 20 years ago I mean obviously there was a war a World War I don’t need to get into all that so so yeah very interesting it seems like it’s kind of divided seems like uh doesn’t seem like there’s a you know people are full-blown protesting everything about it I think most people understand the value to them and they and they understand why we’re there and you know the importance that it that it has I do know that a lot of times when people are hurt hurt you know in the Middle East they end up in Germany American soldiers my aunt actually worked for the Army as a civilian and she was stationed in Germany she loved it she loved everything about it I knew other people that have been uh in the military and been in Germany and they everybody loves it so it seems like a great place um you know I’m talking about living there for years so very interesting if you’re new to my channel it’s anything and everything that interests me as an average middle-aged American that includes international travel learning about other countries learning about other cultures uh finding out what other people think about America and Americans and me learning more about my own country the United States so I appreciate appreciate you checking out our videos and if you want to subscribe that’d be great thumbs up goes a long way in the algorithm and I do appreciate you and I will see you on the next one take care

In this video, I react to and discuss the video: “US Military Bases in Germany – How Do Germans Feel About It? #askagerman | Feli from Germany.” My commentary is my based on my opinion as an Average Middle Aged American that had not yet been to Germany or Europe. 🙂

#americanreacts #averageamerican #averagemiddleagedamerican #americantourist #americantourists #touringeurope #europeantravel #europe #cultureshock #europeantourist #europeanunion #germany #german #americanreacts #americantourist #americaningermany #americanmilitary #rammstein #ramstein #ramsteinmilitarybase

Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0auwmTR9Z9I
@FelifromGermany

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