Postwar Germany’s base lifestyle was born from a crisis of GI misconduct
Evidence
American officials decided that something had to be done. To reassert control and ease the tensions of the occupation, the Army employed a combination of harsh discipline and “wholesome” educational and recreational activities. As the economist John Willoughby writes in a book about the U.S. presence in Germany, the lifestyle that emerged was something “between boot camp and summer camp.” Its norms have continued to this day. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 118
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- ADDENDUM: The origin story of the insulated base-with-amenities model supports an angle on how base towns’ insularity traces back to a disciplinary crisis.