Dozens of U.S. students at a military installation in Germany walked out of middle school Tues protesting Def Sec visit

[mommymarine2003]

11. My father was stationed at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart in the early 70's. I attended Stuttgart American High School.

I am impressed that the people had the courage to demonstrate. My mother would always tell me "don't do anything that might affect your father's career." When I lived there, Patch Barracks was mainly a base for military officers and a lot of high-ranking officers. Originally the military personnel had been based in France but had been moved to Stuttgart. My father was a Marine intelligence officer. I remember going downtown with a high school friend. We rode a streetcar to get back to the base. There was a lot of anti-American sentiment at the time, and our streetcar was surrounded by a very large group of demonstrators. We were terrified and did not dare say a word of English. These were the days of the Baader-Meinhof gang. We had to always carry our ID even as a kid to get back on base. I remember the MP's putting mirrors under the car to check for bombs. The officer's club in Frankfurt was bombed. So many memories, in a scary way.