In PSYOP, we worked/trained a bunch with our Bundeswehr counterparts & in '02, several of us went over there to train with them. Spent a week in the field with 'em out on the Polish border & got the dog & pony show treatment before & after.
One of our last nights there, we went & hung out with a group of WW2 Navy vets. The older fella up front had his boat sunk out from under him, got stuck in the Army on the western front & ended up a US POW at Camp Marlboro. Good folks & many war stories traded. Interesting sidebar- their "clubhouse" was on the upper floor of an old tower built in the mid 1400s & that Louis XIV attempted to destroy in 1689 (wasted half his powder stores to merely cosmetically damage the exterior).
We had cherry picked a team of German speakers & once the old salts realized we spoke their language, our money was no good. Many, many beers & mucho Asbach consumed. Not sure how the villagers reacted to the little bald headed Major marching a squad of paratroopers in full dress regalia back to the hotel at 0300, loudly calling cadence (& very much non-PC cadences at that).
Great time hanging with those cats & once again illustrated to me that soldiers are soldiers, regardless of generation or nationality.
