I Was A Soldier Once And Young

So here I am in Germany. I didn't feel any different here than I did when I was in Canada. My arrival felt just like any other day in my life. Only that I'm in a different part of the world.

I didn't even know why I was in Germany. Obviously I must of missed something as to why Canadian soldiers are in Germany or I'm just plain stupid.
It wasn't long before I got the hang of drinking beer and cognac. I could stand up to the best of them when it came to how much I could drink until I mixed my booze.

I recall time when I got shit faced drunk that I crawled back to the barracks. Or that I hung out of the VW bus puking my guts out while on our way to some daily maneuvers. Sometime I swear I didn't sober up until I left Germany. Anyway, enough said about my drinking habits. The good times revolved around comradeship and traveling though out Europe.
One of my first trips was to visit my grandparents in Goslar Germany. Yes, I am a born German but a very patriotic Canadian Citizen. Never forget this. I grew up in Canada and my allegiance is to Canada, nothing less.
I was born in Goslar Germany which is close to what was East Germany. A very old city which is mainly a tourist attraction by today's standard. However, a very beautiful and historic city indeed. It has a very strong medieval history dating back a 1000 years.

I think I shocked my grand parents on my first arrival, keeping in mind I had never seen them since I was about 6 or 7 years old and now I'm 20, dressed like a slob. I spoke very little German and they didn't speak English. I think the only thing that saved my ass is I was able to understand more Germany than I spoke.

I was wearing pointy toed shoes with Spanish heels, straight leg black pants, a regular shirt and a jacket with embroidered crests that a lot of RCR's wore. Worst of all is I smoked cigarettes at that time. I can still picture this today. In matter of fact I think I have a photo of myself. Talk about not fitting in this picture of an older German city. I still chuckle about this today.