Little America

A US military base located someplace other than the US is its own little nation. This is my first military experience so I really don’t have another experience to compare it to, but I can see how it would be very different. We’re all in the same boat, we’re all visitors, foreigners, and therefore, we all have that in common, giving us something to draw us together as a community. This togetherness probably isn’t so prevalent on a base in the USA. We’re much more isolated. It’s like “Little America”. We’re more apt to take care of each other, I think. Word of mouth is at work at its best here. If you need information about anything, chances are someone else has the answer or the info and is more than happy to share it. It’s nice in that sense. Not so nice in that everyone knows everyone’s business. The world is just that much smaller there. I don’t live on base, thank God, but I know it’s much worse when you live there and work there. No thanks.

The base I work on is much smaller than some in Germany, but it had all the “conveniences”. A gas station called a “shoppette” which was also like a mini grocery store, except you could purchase alcohol at this grocery store. Liquor as well as wine and beer (imported). Not a huge selection of domestic beer, but enough to quench your American beer thirst. German beer is sold here as well. A friend and her husband are going to be moving back to the states in June and have decided they’d better return to drinking American beer now so they’re accustomed to it by the time they move. That’s how good German beer is, and it’s more expensive in the US.

I purchase gas on base, it’s much cheaper. It’s around $2.33 a gallon versus 2.33 Euro (approx.) per liter on the economy. Gas is rationed. I’m not sure what the limits are, I never really paid much attention to it, but any time you purchase gas it’s recorded on your registration. We can also purchase gas coupons which can only be used at a certain gas station chain, which is all over Europe. It’s just cheaper to go this route.

Prior to the grand opening of a shopping mall on another base close by, other shopping conveniences were available on my base. A “PXtra” was where you could purchase a very limited assortment of household goods, kitchen stuff, towels, storage containers, small appliances, beauty items, hardware, books, office supplies, greeting cards, magazines, some gifts like candles, and local German gift items; souvenir type stuff as well as pottery from Poland and German Bier steins. You get the idea.

There was also a “PX” (Post Exchange) which was where you could buy jewelry, make-up, clothing and shoes. A separate sports store sold sporting equipment, bikes and sports clothes. The “Power Zone” was where electronics were sold, music and DVD’s. But alas, all of this is gone since the “mall” was opened. All this stuff is under one roof now along with “European vendors”; Additional stores and carts selling European stuff. It’s kind of a nice convenience being able to purchase certain things like that.

The advantage to purchasing anything on base is not that it’s that much cheaper than you would pay in the states, but everything is TAX free. Plus, the Euro to dollar exchange rate really limits you. It’s very expensive. You’re automatically paying an extra 25% approximately, plus 19% sales tax. It just increased in January. Yikes. We can avoid the German sales tax because of a US-German agreement, but normally most people don’t take advantage of this unless they’re spending a bit more. I know we usually don’t bother unless we spend at least 50 Euro or more. We have to purchase the form that is used, so unless you’re spending a bit more, it’s not really worth it.

I wanted to talk more about the “little nation” aspect of a US military base located abroad, but will have to elaborate more on that tomorrow. I ended up talking more about shopping on base, sorry. Gee, imagine that.