ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Vietnam spin-off phenomenon brought about an escalation of crime and indiscipline in Europe that bordered on a regime of terror beginning in the late 1960s. In very general terms, crime and indiscipline decreased in incidence from approximately 1974 until approximately 1978. In the late 1970s, however, a decided increase occurred in indiscipline in general, coupled with an uneven pattern of increases and decreases from 1978 through 1983. Some interesting features of the indiscipline problem are revealed by following the coverage in the West German press. The precipitous decline in the exchange value of the dollar since 1973 had brought signs of poverty to the lower ranks of soldiers that US forces had not experienced in West Germany. In May of 1979, in Erlangen, a series of three rapes of young German women by US soldiers in a period of three weeks raised tensions between US troops and West Germans to the highest level since early 1970s.
