Outposts of Empire

All over Germany people are fascinated by the Roman ruins in their midst. There are Roman festivals where people dress in Roman like clothing and set up tent camps. There are gladiator fights. There are parades of Roman soldiers.

Germany was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Although not all of Germany was under their control, vast parts of it were and there were Roman bases and barracks throughout a large portion of Southern and Eastern Germany.

The Americans maintain bases and barracks still in Germany. They've done so since the end of WWII. I don't believe the British or the French continue to do so and of course the Russians no longer do as well. Yet, the Americans are here and their bases are very important for the projection of American military power.

Recently, there was an IHT article about an American base near Wiesbaden. A regiment was preparing for another 15 month tour of duty in Iraq. Much of the story concerned family members of the soldiers who also lived on the bases and the push by the US military to keep the families there while their loved ones were off fighting. Some of the reasons given were to keep up family morale and to keep people among a group of people going through the same experience. It spoke of a disconnect existing in the US where most people are no longer pre-occupied by the Iraq fighting, certainly not to the degree the families of soldiers are.

Roman soldiers lived here without the luxury of having their families with them. American soldiers can have their families with them when they are stationed here. One of my big questions is why are the American bases still here? What purpose do they serve? The Iraq War is not a NATO operation. It is a unilateral war with few partners.