When I was stationed in three interesting places -- California, Germany and Massachusetts -- I was *flummoxed* at how many people were content to just stay on base and completely not engage or, worse, affirmatively reject their surroundings. In California, we explored from Baja California to the San Francisco Bay, and everything in between -- San Diego, inland empire, Julian, Orange County, Hollywood, Central Cal, San Luis Obispo, everything we had time and money to enjoy. Usually folks from the Midwest or deep South who were assigned to California against their will would openly reject all things California, as thought they were virtue signaling, when in fact they were ignorance signaling. Ditto Germany, where families were content to hunker down in Fortress America - there were four bases in Stuttgart (Patch, where we lived, Panzer Kaserne, where we worked, Kelley Barracks, which in those days just mostly contained housing and some weird Army offices, and Robinson Barracks (big commissary/PX and houses and not much else). Almost every weekend we were exploring German cities, from Munich to Frankfurt and everything in between, plus Belgium, Netherlands, France, Austria, Italy (by car) and Czech Republic, plus Spain and Italy by air. We lived on base because there was capacity and it was right after 9/11, so the security of the base was tempting for families with small children. We soon realized the threat vector in Germany was pretty small, even as all the FP/Intel weenies were constantly sounding the alarm, mostly to make themselves "useful". The number of people who never left base was simply astounding to me. I felt bad for them, but they were captivated by their own incuriosity and small world view. Many of them should have just sought assignments to Fort Hood and let the curious souls at Fort Hood have the joint orders. Finally, Massachusetts was the same. We explored from Maine to the Cape, and were in Boston every weekend. I was in Cambridge daily for school, and it would have been easy to sit on my butt where we lived in Bedford (Hanscom AFB), but we were determined to maximize the experience -- sports, concerts, history tours, museums, restaurants, the whole 9 yards. I feel sorry for people who are so incurious and insecure they isolate themselves.
This is like reading out of our own memory book -- very much the same experiences. England, Germany, Boston, Seattle. In every case, the same thing you describe. There is a willful ignorance at play sometimes -- a resistance to having oneself complicated or worldview challenged by contrary evidence. Or sometimes it is just laziness. But I have never met anyone who embraced an exploring approach to an assignment and regretted it later. The rewards are so rich.
Thanks Butch for reading and engaging with this. Come to the UK soon, and we will live the sentiment.
These are my same memories. When we’re stationed in Germany, it was a rare weekend we were “home”. Many were afraid to travel due to the language barrier (I never met a German under 50 that could not speak English). Others just lacked curiosity.
On a rare weekend at home I was at the commissary and ran into a colleague. He said, “looks like your doing the sale as us. There’s never anything tondo around here.” I was dumbfounded. We traveled to 13 countries while stationed there. Within a two hours drive four different languages were spoken, the oldest city north of the Alpes was our back yard and the greatest wine growing regions on the planet were their for the tasting.
Out wanderlust has never ceased. This year includes a trip to the Arctic circle and then a trek to African Savanah.
Sounds like you did it right, and continue to do it right.
When we went to Germany, it was billed as a 3-year tour and we hoped to string together a couple of assignments and lengthen that. After 18 months, the Air Force made an offer we couldn't refuse and we rapidly pulled chocks and moved to South Carolina. But in that 18 months, we never stopped. Our kids still talk about those experiences, now 15 years dated, in vivid detail. It really influenced them and enriched us as a family.
Our ethos was that we'd keep exploring until we ran out of time or money. We still live that way. We're off to Schwarzwald for an annual pilgrimage in just a few weeks.
When I was stationed in three interesting places -- California, Germany and Massachusetts -- I was *flummoxed* at how many people were content to just stay on base and completely not engage or, worse, affirmatively reject their surroundings. In California, we explored from Baja California to the San Francisco Bay, and everything in between -- San Diego, inland empire, Julian, Orange County, Hollywood, Central Cal, San Luis Obispo, everything we had time and money to enjoy. Usually folks from the Midwest or deep South who were assigned to California against their will would openly reject all things California, as thought they were virtue signaling, when in fact they were ignorance signaling. Ditto Germany, where families were content to hunker down in Fortress America - there were four bases in Stuttgart (Patch, where we lived, Panzer Kaserne, where we worked, Kelley Barracks, which in those days just mostly contained housing and some weird Army offices, and Robinson Barracks (big commissary/PX and houses and not much else). Almost every weekend we were exploring German cities, from Munich to Frankfurt and everything in between, plus Belgium, Netherlands, France, Austria, Italy (by car) and Czech Republic, plus Spain and Italy by air. We lived on base because there was capacity and it was right after 9/11, so the security of the base was tempting for families with small children. We soon realized the threat vector in Germany was pretty small, even as all the FP/Intel weenies were constantly sounding the alarm, mostly to make themselves "useful". The number of people who never left base was simply astounding to me. I felt bad for them, but they were captivated by their own incuriosity and small world view. Many of them should have just sought assignments to Fort Hood and let the curious souls at Fort Hood have the joint orders. Finally, Massachusetts was the same. We explored from Maine to the Cape, and were in Boston every weekend. I was in Cambridge daily for school, and it would have been easy to sit on my butt where we lived in Bedford (Hanscom AFB), but we were determined to maximize the experience -- sports, concerts, history tours, museums, restaurants, the whole 9 yards. I feel sorry for people who are so incurious and insecure they isolate themselves.
This is like reading out of our own memory book -- very much the same experiences. England, Germany, Boston, Seattle. In every case, the same thing you describe. There is a willful ignorance at play sometimes -- a resistance to having oneself complicated or worldview challenged by contrary evidence. Or sometimes it is just laziness. But I have never met anyone who embraced an exploring approach to an assignment and regretted it later. The rewards are so rich.
Thanks Butch for reading and engaging with this. Come to the UK soon, and we will live the sentiment.
These are my same memories. When we’re stationed in Germany, it was a rare weekend we were “home”. Many were afraid to travel due to the language barrier (I never met a German under 50 that could not speak English). Others just lacked curiosity.
On a rare weekend at home I was at the commissary and ran into a colleague. He said, “looks like your doing the sale as us. There’s never anything tondo around here.” I was dumbfounded. We traveled to 13 countries while stationed there. Within a two hours drive four different languages were spoken, the oldest city north of the Alpes was our back yard and the greatest wine growing regions on the planet were their for the tasting.
Out wanderlust has never ceased. This year includes a trip to the Arctic circle and then a trek to African Savanah.
Sounds like you did it right, and continue to do it right.
When we went to Germany, it was billed as a 3-year tour and we hoped to string together a couple of assignments and lengthen that. After 18 months, the Air Force made an offer we couldn't refuse and we rapidly pulled chocks and moved to South Carolina. But in that 18 months, we never stopped. Our kids still talk about those experiences, now 15 years dated, in vivid detail. It really influenced them and enriched us as a family.
Our ethos was that we'd keep exploring until we ran out of time or money. We still live that way. We're off to Schwarzwald for an annual pilgrimage in just a few weeks.
Thanks for reading ... and keep travelin'!