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Moskie · 01-12-2004, 01:40 AM

Here in Mannheim, Germany, there's a US base just down the street from me. It also contains a small University of Maryland campus. I'm a UMD student studying here in Mannheim for a semester (unrelated to this Mannheim campus), so I went to go check the place out.

The German guards at the gate, after trying to keep as much pride as they could, allowed me in after I showed my US passport and my UMD ID card. I walked around a bit... but it felt completely deserted. Hardly any signs of life at all. I ran into a few guys walking around, and asked them some questions. They were soldiers stationed there, and they explained that places like this base were seeing big drops in the number of soldiers stationed there. Most were shipped off to Iraq or elsewhere. And it also turns out that the UMD campus there is shutting their doors, after being open for over 50 years. There's just so fewer people there, soldiers, miltary personel, and their families, that the campus is no longer useful. As for the base itself... I got the impression it was on its last few breaths as well.

Just wanted to provide a first hand account. I probably don't know the whole story, but it seems as if this plan is already well underway.

01-12-2004, 01:40 AM	#9 (permalink)
Moskie Pure Chewing Satisfaction Location: can i use bbcode [i]here[/i]?	Here in Mannheim, Germany, there's a US base just down the street from me. It also contains a small University of Maryland campus. I'm a UMD student studying here in Mannheim for a semester (unrelated to this Mannheim campus), so I went to go check the place out. The German guards at the gate, after trying to keep as much pride as they could, allowed me in after I showed my US passport and my UMD ID card. I walked around a bit... but it felt completely deserted. Hardly any signs of life at all. I ran into a few guys walking around, and asked them some questions. They were soldiers stationed there, and they explained that places like this base were seeing big drops in the number of soldiers stationed there. Most were shipped off to Iraq or elsewhere. And it also turns out that the UMD campus there is shutting their doors, after being open for over 50 years. There's just so fewer people there, soldiers, miltary personel, and their families, that the campus is no longer useful. As for the base itself... I got the impression it was on its last few breaths as well. Just wanted to provide a first hand account. I probably don't know the whole story, but it seems as if this plan is already well underway. __________________ Greetings and salutations.