Anyone in Stuttgart?

Orders (finally!) came and we are headed to Stuttgart! Anyone who is currently there or was there?

I'm not sure I have any specific questions just yet, but anything anyone can tell me would be wonderful. I'm super excited, though the prospect of back-to-back OCONUS is a bit daunting.

Im stationed in Illesheim so Germany specific questions I can do. All Ive done in Stuttgart is visit the Porsche and Mercedes museums and get drunk as hell downtown.

My last CO was there at AFRICOM. He loved it and will never shut up about how superior German culture/towns/cars/food is to the USA

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What's the general quality of life like? How difficult is it to navigate life there? (We're coming from Japan and the language and cultural barriers have been rough at times, and I'm wondering if it will be a bit easier in Germany.)

Sounds like a neat gig to me, some would kill for consectutive tours OCONUS (at decent places). At least Stuttgart doesn't get underway at 'O dawn-thirty' for 8 mos.

What's goin' dow militarily in Stuttgart anyway?
BzB

Primarily I think it's EUCOM and AFRICOM there. We're definitely excited about Stuttgart, and hoping that the job is decent hours for him.

Having been to both countries I can tell you that the cultural and language barriers are A LOT lower in Germany. Most Germans know some English and most who do are more likely to use it than the French that do though using some German with most gets you a little further. The culture is a lot more familiar with some major differences though not the huge gulf that you find with Japanese culture, it is definitely very 'western' versus 'eastern'. There are a lot more foreigners around in Germany which helps with the tolerance and I got the sense they were more accommodating in Japan where I felt like I was just tolerated in many places, maybe that was me though?! And if you get sick of Germany it is a lot easier to travel around Europe than escaping Japan, riding the rails is very easy and convenient.

I know a few folks in Stuttgart and the HQs and while most work hard there is definitely a different climate when it comes to work than you usually find stateside, usually a bit more relaxed. It can be office dependent but that is the general climate with most encouraging their office mates who are only there for a 2-3 year tour to enjoy it and see Europe, longer vacations are normal in the summer months. If you end up losing leave while there you are doing something wrong.

I have to say though I am impressed, how much time have you all spent in CONUS since TRACOM? Coming back to the states might be a shock to you all after so much time overseas.

He was Stateside for 3 sets of orders post-FRS. I think it was about 8.5 years CONUS (all in San Diego) before we headed to Japan (which was not something he asked for, though Germany was definitely by request).

OCONUS is just the 2.5 years here (we'll leave a few months shy of that) and then 36 months (though I'm told most end up only doing 24-30) in Germany. So it will end up being about 5 years total OCONUS.

After that, I think I'll be ready for a little stateside time.

I spent two years in Stuttgart at EUCOM, located at Patch Barracks. Absolutely great location. Easy access to skiing in Bavaria, switzerland, and Austria. Short drive to Black Forest, and Strasberg. Easy connection for short flights to all of Europe.

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From my experience in the early '60s at Augsburg, you can stop shaving yer legs and armpits...

Both EUCOM and AFRICOM are Army-sponsored commands, so expect to do most things the "Army way".
Be prepared to say; "why the hell do we have to do it that way.... that makes no sense" A LOT.

But on the plus side, depending on your job, be prepared for some good travel while stationed there!!
Most folks loved it. The ones who hated it were mostly due to personality conflicts with their superiors.

But you got to keep taking care of that beaver in the ink....

At least with English characters, it's a lot easier to negotiate the language barrier. In Japan, it's a lot harder trying to get someone to write something down, and then telling the cabby to "Take me to the waffle symbol, backward dollar sign, upside down 4".

When giving directions to Yokosuka, people refer to "limp dick, triple stick, tic-tac-toe" and as soon as you see it, you know exactly what they are referring to.

Does that mean I wasn't supposed to have been saying that about all the Navy for the last 10 years?

I am definitely excited about all the travel opportunities!

The Army is worse, a lot worse. Be afraid, be very afraid!

1. Get a GPS. Trust me the Autobahn doesnt work the way a US Highway system does. Just because you can get off doesnt mean if you miss an exit or take the wrong one it'll be a short run to the next clover leaf and head back the other way. Ive taken 30-35 minute detours in some places because there was just nowhere to go. Also its critical in helping you find an Esso station (the only gas you can buy at US Price) so when your out of your normal 30K area your not running around frantic because there is not a gas station in every town and if they have one thats usually good enough for the germans but it may not be Esso. Near the borders this becomes even more critical as you cant gas up tax free in other countries so you'll want to tank before crossing the border and the closer you get to other countries (Austria in particular) the fewer they are to find.

2. Carry cash everywhere. Credit only works in cities, most places other than hotels wont take plastic in the smaller towns. Europeans are paranoid about ID theft in a way you wouldnt believe.

3. English will get you by, German will get you better service and for day to day interaction its easy to learn (restaurants and shopping).

4. You can take your dog anywhere except a grocery store. We take ours out to eat all the time. The Caveat to that is Germans expect children and animals to be quiet and well behaved. Your dog will be expected to sit/lay quietly on the lead while you eat for an hour and a half so if it cant do that, dont take it. But most hotels allow pets so its easy to travel without worrying about the animals.

Ive gotta run but Ill come back for more stuff.

Totally agree - I think the whole whole point of a joint tour is to realize that the Army way of doing things is less than smart.....

Honestly, I spent my last 7 years in a Joint environment; we don't work any smarter than the the other services, we are just more comfortable with our own brand of asshattery.

Pretty much!

My preferred way of expressing this is that none of the services are better or worse than each other; we're all just "different-screwed-up."

This sounds frighteningly like Japan, where I'd still be driving lost in Tokyo after an airport run during the evacuation if I hadn't have my iPhone with maps, where credit card acceptance is definitely not guaranteed, and where English often gets me by, if it must. The gas card (and, if the rumor mill is correct, coffe ration card???) is going to take some getting used to, but being able to buy off base post (See, I'm already adapting!) will be nice.

Sadly, we aren't yet grown up enough to own a dog, though I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out.

Any recommendations for a language learning software or program? I tried Rosetta Stone for Japanese and wasn't impressed, especially for the price. My current German consists of "danke", "guten tag", and the names of various German beers.

First off, Beer in Germany isnt about who you know its about your style/taste on beer. Other than the big national chain brands like Becks or maybe Warsteinter, the beers will change with the province and even town your in. Best thing to do is figure out your style of beer (Heife, Dunkel, Pils, etc) and go from there. Usually in a bar they will have that type of beer but the brand will be the local brewery. Me Im a fan of the dark smooth taste of a Dunkel or a Heife (wheat beer) if they dont have that. Mix cocktail type girly drinks your used to in the states (Long Island, Cosmo, etc) dont exist outside of the disco's in major cities over here. Liquor is usually consumed as a separate straight drink be it whiskey or amaretto or gin.

Coffee/Smokes/Hard booze over 80 proof is rationed but its not that bad. I dont drink coffee so my individual ration buys the coffee for the office and we've never had a shortfall on it. The booze is the only one Ive ever topped out on and that was just stocking my bar and not wanting to pay the German prices for what would normally be cheap if it wasnt American liquor. Wine however is dirt cheap over here, and good too.

I tried Rosetta stone when it was free and it wasnt bad, but honestly the most German I learned was from living off post for 3 weeks in a hotel and not having any choice but to go out to eat every night. The one thing I would definitely do is keep the Iphone as there are a ton of useful apps for it that will help you shopping, dining out, or trying to make sense of the rail system. Itll also in the case of the train help you during any of the frequent reroutes they do at the station where suddenly your platform changes and you dont know why everybody is leaving your just sure you should probably too. Its also great for conversion of metric to english or for quick translations on what exactly is the type of flour your about to buy etc. German really isnt impossible on its own since a lot of our words came from it and the sentence structure is identical.

Absolutely, but as is evident with some of the people I work with, some dont like German coffee. I use the commissary for meats (steak/beef especially) and for some of the dairy items and junk and processed foods I cant get on the economy. For vegetables/fruits, bread, lunch meats... Its the Kaufland (German version of Kroger).

Also something else about Germany, the selection your used to in a type of store in the States has little to no bearing on what will be there in a German store. Ive seen computers for sale in Hardware stores, Bicycles for sale in Grocery Stores, etc. You kinda have to learn where stuff is through experimentation and accidentally stumbling upon it.