Finally arrived in the Land of Chocolate, fully expecting to be able to munch away on Chocolate Houses, Dogs, Fire-Hydrants etc (or at least the Gingerbread equivalents) in the best Homer Simpson style and what do I find? All bricks and mortar. Bah!
What a swizz!
And it's snowed all day - and I had to work as well! The liberties these people take, I ask you...
Visited the Deutches Bundeswehr PanzerLehrBrigade 9 (or PzLrBde-9 to those who know...) for a familiarisation and kaffee-klatch. Clambered around on various bits of kit including Leopard-2 (nice).
The Germans are frantically restructuring their armed forces in line with other NATO (particularly British) models so as to effectively field units to deal with NATO and UN commitments overseas.
We had a long chat about the (lack of) German Army involvement in Afghanistan and these guys want nothing more than to get stuck right in there, but their training has been so neglected and hampered by 50 years of Left-Wing political constraint that they'd be ineffective. All they've done for 50 years is to train for defdensive Ops with a conscript army - this is all about to change. Big-Time.
We'll be seeing more of them this year in some joint exercises that were fag-packeted this afternoon.
Oh yes, and the German Unit's G-3 officer's name is Herr Major Alex Rommel. A Rommel in a Panzer unit? Surely not? Gleaming - it made my day.
What a swizz!
And it's snowed all day - and I had to work as well! The liberties these people take, I ask you...
Visited the Deutches Bundeswehr PanzerLehrBrigade 9 (or PzLrBde-9 to those who know...) for a familiarisation and kaffee-klatch. Clambered around on various bits of kit including Leopard-2 (nice).
The Germans are frantically restructuring their armed forces in line with other NATO (particularly British) models so as to effectively field units to deal with NATO and UN commitments overseas.
We had a long chat about the (lack of) German Army involvement in Afghanistan and these guys want nothing more than to get stuck right in there, but their training has been so neglected and hampered by 50 years of Left-Wing political constraint that they'd be ineffective. All they've done for 50 years is to train for defdensive Ops with a conscript army - this is all about to change. Big-Time.
We'll be seeing more of them this year in some joint exercises that were fag-packeted this afternoon.
Oh yes, and the German Unit's G-3 officer's name is Herr Major Alex Rommel. A Rommel in a Panzer unit? Surely not? Gleaming - it made my day.
:shrug: …whilst Rudolf Hess was still breathing next door apparently:.. Can’t say I remember anything wonderful about it the area, but the Berlin city night life was fab...made Soho look like a kindergarten. 
