Those were pretty bad years to be in Germany. The dollar was declining against the Mark which cut into our purchasing power. I didn't get any adjustment for that. With Jimmy Carter in the White House, we also got back-to-back 10% pay cuts (compared to inflation). There was also a little thing called the Iranian Hostage Crisis that caused all sorts of restrictions on base.

I had limited opportunities to travel due to my job and very limited pay. I worked rotating shift work which meant I only had 2 weekends off every 2 months. Most of the excursions were only done on the weekends and I didn't have much time off to travel. In the two years, I did manage to go to Paris twice, England for about 10 days, Amsterdam, and Switzerland. That totals perhaps 20 days out of 2 years.

Ramstein was the headquarters for USAF Europe. For that reason, we probably attracted more attention from the "Yankee go home" crowd. What most of them probably didn't realize was that most of us wanted to do exactly that. Between the terrible work hours, bad pay, and other hassles, it wasn't a good time. The peaceniks just added to the bad times.