Although the deportment, the way they choose to carry themselves, of senior military leadership, under all flags, I think, does not excuse or explain all the murky prospecting that has been carried out in the name of democracy, provocation and business-interests, I do think that that deportment, however, does play into how leadership handles morale, uncertainty and rumour management.
There has been a lot of talk and speculation in German press, surely instigated by gossips official and unofficial pressing to have heard what they want to hear, regardless of realities or outcomes, about significant reduction of the presence of the American Army in Europe, a winnowing down to a few enduring locations. It is strange that this news, which has been in the works for some time depending on who one asks--or is as fresh as the latest market boom and bust, coincides with the annual Munich Security Conference and the announcement that Ramstein Airbase will host the NATO missile shield command, which is a provocative move to many of the successor powers of the Cold War belligerents. It is difficult to say if these changes are reaffirming a commitment on the part of the US to its NATO alliance or represent its distancing. It is one of the biggest challenges to deliver reassurance in opposition to what one wants to hear, but it is a challenge proper to leadership nonetheless, and it does not seem very much in keeping with restraint to spread rumours oneself, as the echo-chamber of military hierarchy has done. It's strange also having lived for so long as sort of a stateless individual, not a political refuge or someone disenfranchised any more or less than any one of the voting class, without congressional representation, unlike for residents attached to a state with an advocate to rage against reduction in forces and base-closings. There's no apparent wheeling-and-dealing overseas and not many tears shed in Congress over these changes, and at other times, the lack of interference is most welcome, especially considering the bearing and posture that comes with it. By deportment, I mean that run-a-way instinct for preservation that has been made dilute and calculated and usual takes the form of yes-men and conformists who'll serve out their terms in safety and security, making their world friendlier to their ilk. Such behaviour leaves a proverbial battlefield as well of bad decisions which usually need the same attendant walk-back in the end.
