2nd Week

Now I know why Germans drink so much beer - the weather stinks!  Really, two weeks and I've seen the sun maybe twice.  Blah.

Work is good, I'm starting to dig into the meat of my job.  There's a Marine unit in Spain that was established a few years ago to assist hot spots in northern Africa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Purpose_Marine_Air-Ground_Task_Force_%E2%80%93_Crisis_Response_%E2%80%93_Africa

Unfortunately they have to deal with issues like base staffing, car rental contracts, etc., all stuff that distracts them from their mission.  So my position was created as a liaison that takes ownership of these issues.  In order to do that I need to spend time with different staff to understand the history and nature of these issues - that way I can either make corrections or advise on how to proceed for the future.  Simple right?

BUT - I took a USO sponsored trip this weekend to France to visit the Maginot Line.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginot_Line
Yeah, I had to wake up early to get on the bus at 0400, but once on I fell asleep almost until we arrived in France.  Nice bus.  The Maginot Line is one of those minor details of WWII we used to learn about in high school, I even had (maybe still have) a comic book about it.  But to actually visit it and see the enormous scale of this effort is just amazing.  Even more so when you realize these underground forts were built in the 1930s.   And there were/are hundreds of these small and large all along the border.

The particular installation we visited was the Hackenberg Fortress (Ouvrage Hackenberg) on the border intersection of France, Germany, and Luxembourg.  It extends for several miles under a mountain which overlooks the Moselle River valley.  Even with our professional guide and the still working electric train, we spent about three and a half hours and only saw a fraction of this single fortress.  Most impressive was the gun demonstration - a 135mm mechanized mortar.  The entire assembly with armor and counterweight is 270 tons.  And it still works, meaning it goes up and down and spins around, they didn't actually fire it for us.  The neighbors tend to frown on that.

Then on to the nearby town of Thionville for lunch and a short tour.  We were supposed to visit the French Resistance Museum but it was closed for renovation for the upcoming tourist season.  Typical nice French town; cafes around the square where I had an interesting version of a Monte Cristo sandwich, and an espresso afterward.

The last stop of the day was the Lorraine American cemetery.  The US 80th and 90th Infantry Divisions, under Gen Patton's Third Army, moved through the Lorraine area in late 1944 (and retook Hackenberg Fortress from German control) on its way into Germany.

Long day, but a good one!