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Overseas U.S. military bases are often very much like this, with the dual need to house troops and their families, they often have schools, shopping, and variou
by bane 10y ago
Overseas U.S. military bases are often very much like this, with the dual need to house troops and their families, they often have schools, shopping, and various other services in place.
It's very common for deployed families to come back after 2 or 3 years overseas with almost no knowledge of the local language, area or customs because the comprehensiveness of the "little America" on-post is so complete. You can even buy cars, American breakfast cereal and fast foods and get TV shows and radio all pumped in at almost no cost differential to being in the U.S.
If the bases aren't large enough, they'll often set up an American enclave nearby that extends the services and provides a few neighborhoods for the families to have extended social interactions. When I was touring in Germany, I came across the town of Vilseck, which has a large American base nearby. The town was full of deployed families, and imagine my surprise when I came across an honest to god Soul Food restaurant! After eating German and Italian food for a couple weeks, getting some very traditional American food was a very welcome site.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1641647-d4233161-Reviews-Angelo_s_Soul_Food-Vilseck_Upper_Palatinate_Bavaria.html https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1641647-d4233...
- chiph 10y agoWhile everything you said is true (I spent 2 years at Hahn AB in the mid-80's), there's no comparison with the classic robber-baron run company town. The commissary (military supermarket) is run as a benefit of service, and even if you live in base housing, you're welcome to buy on the economy. The commissary doesn't ship everything in from the US, just items they can't source locally. So Pop-Tarts were imported from the US (accept no substitute!), but the meat and the Brötchen were bought from German suppliers. Whereas the company store in the company town, as was said elsewhere, was run to the benefit of the company. Prices were set such that even buying just staples there (eggs, flour, etc) would keep you in perpetual debt.
- compiler-guy 10y agoOne very big difference between a military company town and the ones described in this article: The military pays you in cash, which is useful anywhere US dollars are accepted. Cash gives you freedom to exit the company town without losing all that stored value.
- bane 10y agosorry for the late reply: I was talking this over with a couple vet friends of mine and both mentioned cases where they were paid in some kind of scrip (usually in combat zones where bringing in cash was dangerous) or in dollars in cases where dollars weren't accepted on the local economy making it effectively the same. http://www.robertsworldmoney.com/banknotedetail.php?id=7597&searchbanknote= http://www.robertsworldmoney.com/banknotedetail.php?id=7597&...