| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| The Road Back |
| 2009-11-15 |
| Often, as I have passed through the main train station here in the German capital, I have seen the sad, lone figure of a soldier, heavy pack on his back, waiting for a train like the rest of us, but separated from the crowd by the uniform he wears. No one would stop to thank him for his service or to ask whether he had been deployed to Afghanistan. The loneliness was obvious, but at times I even sensed what I thought might have been fear, at the occasional hostile looks the soldier would receive alongside the impassiveness of the broader masses on the platform, who just tried to pretend he wasn’t there. In Afghanistan recently, where German troops are engaged in ground combat the likes of which their military hasn’t seen since World War II, I described my impressions of the home front to a group of soldiers from a reconnaissance company. A staff sergeant, who had been risking his life almost daily outside Kunduz, recalled a trip to Berlin during which he was wearing his uniform at a train stop. He was told to make himself scarce or he would be beaten up. “It was shocking,” said the sergeant, Marcel B., who, according to German military rules, could not be fully identified. “We’re looked down on. With American soldiers, they tell me how they receive recognition, how people just come up to them and say they’re doing good.” It reminds me of the little known sequel to All Quiet On The Western Front, entitled The Road Back, which shows how Germany neglected and abused its returning World War I veterans. A worthy read. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #1 Someday, there is going to be a huge influx of Europeans applying for visas to escape to America. No one should be admitted unless they served in their military. |
| Posted by: Slaper Lumplump9157 2009-11-15 14:25 |