American Military Brat Back in Germany
Welcome to our new YG blogger Jesse! Photo (c) Jesse Woods
According to Wikipedia, the term Military brat “describes people who spend their childhood or adolescence while a parent (or parents) serve full-time in the armed forces.”
I have lived in Germany for most of my life, but I feel like I have really only lived in Germany during the last two years working for a small German Internet company and hosting a weekly talent show at a local German night club.
Many foreigners think about living in Germany after studying an interesting university language course, visiting on a family vacation, discovering a foreign job opportunity, or even after seeing a movie with scenes of Germany’s beautiful castles and countryside.
My introduction to Germany was different. I first came to the country as an military brat when I was only two years old, far too young to appreciate Germany for its cool culture and rich history.
I did get the chance, however, to grow up in different parts of Germany, moving from military base to military base with my parents until I graduated high school and returned back to the USA. You would probably think that after having spent most of my life living in Germany, I would have had the perfect introduction to the country. Not exactly.
I never learned the German language. I never had a real chance to develop friendships with German kids living in my area. I never got to stay home from school on German holidays or have Christmas on the 24th of December like most of the kids in Germany. Why?
Growing up on an American military base in Germany is like living in a self-sufficient mini-USA. It was nice having everything you need in one place, but there was no real incentive to step outside of the base community and get to know the host country or it’s language. So why did I return to Germany?
During a winter recess from college in the USA, I visited my dad in Germany, who was still living there with the military. On this trip, I met a German girl, we started a relationship, and I continued a long-distance relationship with her until I graduated college. After graduation, I finally had my incentive to return to Germany to live. Love.
I had finished college, I was in love, plus Germany felt more like home than the USA. However, I was unprepared for a life in Germany, completely different from the life I previously lived as a military brat. I would be living in Germany independent from the U.S. military, and this new life brought new challenges.
When I returned to Germany at the age of 22, not only did I not know the language, but I also knew nothing about how to get a residence and working permit, finding a job, acquiring health insurance, or how to meet other essential needs for living.
Soon after I had returned to Germany, my relationship with my girlfriend had failed, and I was fortunate to be able to live with my father while I decided whether to stay in Germany or go back to the USA. Ultimately, I decided to stay and finally discover the country I had called home for most of my life. Finally, I felt like I was living in Germany.
Check back at the Young Germany blog regularly to read more about our new blogger Jesse’s life in Germany. Welcome Jesse!
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Thanks for writing it was interesting. I am too a military brat and spouse, and I agree that living on base sometimes you miss out on the culture. Not all the time, but yes you have to make a conscious effort. I guess my parents always tried to make sure we learned something of the host language and we always had friends in the host nation. Now that I am a spouse with a military brat of my own, we live off base, and yes he will be learning German, and we really don’t have the little america where we are, so it might be a little easier. Even at our last base which was bigger we made a conscious decision to live off base, and even some friends who did live on base, went out of their way to learn the language and culture. It was really nice reading the difference experiences expats, and military brats. Thank you.
Thanks for your feedback Mills. I agree completely. I also think our own conscious effort is the most important step we must make to diffuse ourselves within a new culture. I think it’s awesome that your parents also encouraged you to make that effort, and I think living off base is a perfect opportunity to develop a curiosity and interest in a new culture. When I grew up, I was missing the curiosity for the most part, and therefore an interest, and even a need to get to know my host nation. But now i’m back, I love this place, and I am excited to finally get to know this place
Yeah I agree it is our conscious effort that helps us try to learn more about our host nation. I am grateful my parents instilled that we needed to learn about the culture around us, but they were very socially outgoing people. Well you have the curiosity now and that is all it matters. I am having a culture shock though, I moved from the big city in Germany to a small town…I am trying to get used to not having public transportation every 10 minutes. Also, I am hoping this new year to start an immersion program to learn the language better. I hope to read more of your writing.
We are also a military family in Germany. Unfortunantly, we are required to live on post. It takes a special effort to get off post and actually ‘live’ in Germany. I’m having the most trouble getting my kids involved in the community outside the gate. They were already in school when we moved here (again), and it hasn’t been as easy as I’d thought. BTW, I prefer to say I’m raising ‘Citzens of the world’ (or third culture kids) rather than Army brats. I could just be weird.