I absolutely loved my time in Germany (77-81).
My shorter time was at Wharton Barracks, in Heilbronn-1969-70. As a draftee I made Spec 5, and lived off base with my wife and daughter.
I was the battalion Morning Report clerk. As such I had to complete my work by 11:00 am, six days a week. My boss kept me off extra duty most of the time, and it was pretty easy duty.
We socialized with other young enlisted couples. Everybody knew of Gasthauses, of various types.
One couple lived out in a village, walking distance to a Gasthaus, which we frequented. When each of us were headed back for discharge, the proprietor made a point to give us nice bottles of wine.
We had been good customers. No rowdiness, just young marrieds with babies. We had many good times. I had 3 years of German in high school, so caught on pretty quickly with language. But not before I made an unexpectedly big adjustment to regional dialect, from school version German.
At that time, there were no McDonalds, Walmarts or Starbucks. Just authentic Germany. It was rare to see an American brand or vehicle off the base.
If we take a trip to Europe, my wife wants to see Germany again. I would prefer exploring other places. Me: Spain/Portugal, Ireland/Scotland, Sweden.
I guess today they are overrun by muslims and McDonalds everywhere in Germany. Back in my day, some Turks did KP for us.