Lüneburger Heide. Not really close neighbourhood, but something Northern nevertheless - Lübeck. My most prefered town on Earth. For me, it is either the Hanseatic North, or Bavaria. The German middle in between does not exist on my inner map. :D

I imagine there will be a cost savings, but for whom?

Did the UK pay for the bases and upkeep or was it funded by Germany?

I think the US could save a few dollars if we could reduce our overseas bases to just 100. :yep:

If anyone is interested here is the new basing plan - who is going where.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...asing_plan.pdf

I wonder, are there many people who search Lüneburger Heide for the burial site of it's most infamous inhabitant? :o

They've done so much nonsense here (in apositive way) that it's really hard to see them go :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iew3spuYozs
:03:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH-DHKSHvwY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYbs-ZNrjUg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrLW3ygn9vA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlXao4oPHEo

Best wishes,
Catfish

20 years ago or so I was working night shifts together with Jim, an ex-soldier of the British Army of the Rhine in Germany. He had tried to get back into a civilian live in England but he had failed. No jobs for him in England, as he said. So he had returned to Germany for a living and was working for the German postal office. That is where I met him. We were both throwing parcels from left to right during night shifts at 5:00 am.. For me it was a student job. He, who had a tattoo: “Hong Kong- hot as hell never again” written to an image of a British soldier sweating under a palm tree on his forearm said to me a couple of times: “Danny-boy, don’t do as I did. Learn a decent job like lawyer or doctor” Duh!
His son-in-law had enlisted too to the army at the age of 17 for (is it?) 20 years of service and was patrolling the streets in Northern Ireland waiting for an ambush, and Jim’s daughter being pregnant. No way out, working class.

If Britain can’t offer jobs for returning soldiers now, then I see trouble.

Jim however, my fatherly friend, later got promoted and became a postal office driver in Germany and was happy about it. I bet, he still pays taxes in Germany.

That will be old Heinrich :hmm2:

The British already left my region in the mid 90s. Though some stayed, mostly people from my generation - children of the soldiers who were stationed here. Many because they met some significant others to lure them away from ole Britain. :smug:

Though I have a problem with a certain individual who was stationed here after the war due to family affairs, I never had any problems with the troops who were here during the 80s/90s. Never got crap from them for running around with weird haircuts and clothes, quite the opposite to some Bundeswehr soldiers.
Not to forget the BFBS, they often played some great stuff - saved many of my generation from the boring German radio stations.

When the Brits here went out drinking, they mostly met in the Irish pubs, always good drinking buddies, with good humour, sometimes a bit rowdy. However even the roughest guys put their tail between their legs when the MP arrived to enforce the curfew. Those who opposed the MP, usually never did it a second time :dead: :D.