Any insight on smith barracks, Baumholder, Germany?

What I did in 85 to 88 was get the hell away from where all the GIs hung out after getting my self a local used car and after selling my Silver Cloud Rolls my Roommate gave me after he got a dishonorable discharge from 3/8th Cav maid 150,000 from a local German for it.

I then bought a little 2 door Nissan and then started driving all over Germany on the weekend to small towns where they treated me with respect and honor not like the town where the GIs hung out.

I am told by a friend that is over there now they are treating him the same way when he goes away from the Post to small towns all over Germany.

I recommend when you get a car to do the same and take a camera with you, I wentbto were none of the tourist went.

Made my time in Germany so much fun.

I'm going to recommend what I recommend to anyone who gets orders for Germany. Use the grey market to your advantage. Ship a cool American car when you go. I knew a guy who got over $100,000 for a crappy '56 Cadillac he paid $1500 for in 1986. My daughter went over there in 2016 and I tried to in halves on a '73 Mustang and she refused. She admitted later that she could have probably got at least $50,000 for that car. Instead she left her Mitsubishi there in a junkyard. An E-4 can have a whole lot more fun in Europe with that much cash in his account. The more rare and unusual the car the more money you'll get. You can park it in front of sidewalk café, sit outside drinking coffee, and someone will eventually offer to buy it from you. Check online for current German import laws first though.

You can ship a German car home later if you want. Most guys just buy a junker from someone PCSing back and use it while in country, then sell it to another troop, but you can find a nice, used Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and have it converted to US spec by AAFES (used to be a few grand) and the Army will pay to ship it home. They won't if you don't ship one over though. Just a little advice from a guy who struggled on E-4 pay back during the Cold War and could have made a chunk of change on his old Nova...

It’s a pretty small town and garrison in a rural area. Americans seem to outnumber the locals. There’s a sustainment brigade, a medical battalion, an ADA battalion, a JSOTF, and a few other random units. There is also a small PX, small commissary, a shoppette, Burger King, Subway, Popeyes, Dunkin Doughnuts, and a few other random eateries. It does have a post office and elementary school. Ramstein Air Base is about 45 minutes away and has a lot more amenities.