ABSTRACT
The US military population in West Germany is a highly peculiar population simply by virtue of the fact that it constitutes a military presence of a foreign state. This chapter discusses a great deal about the character and quality of this population by studying its demographic characteristics. Educational level is, no doubt, a major factor that explains the ease with which US officers interact with the West German population while a large portion of the enlisted personnel remain completely isolated. The army has to cope with considerably higher levels of substance abuse and indiscipline than does the air force, and this compounds its problems of maintaining cordial relations with the German population near US bases. The two regions that were overrepresented were the US possessions and the South, which was significantly overrepresented, with 15.3% of total US population but 22.8% of enlisted troops in Germany.
