When I was 16 I borrowed my friend's copy of "Spaceballs" After the movie ended, the tape had an episode of "Family Ties" which I watched. I didn't think anything of it until the commercial break came and I did not see a regular commercial. It was a guy in a cartigan extolling the virtues of the Officer's Club. "You know, the Officers Club isn't just a watering hole..." After this was a series of PSA's and then Station ID.

"You're watching American Forces Network - Hiedleburg" or some such garrison location in Germany during the height of Reagan's conclusion of the Cold War in the 80's. I was facinated. I knew there were servicemembers and their families stationed overseas and that my friend's family had recently been one of them. But I gave no further thought to it until that moment. Then it occured to me that our overseas locations were in fact American ghettos scattered abroad in Western Europe and East Asia. They had their own internal infrastructure (to include TV and Radio) and everything else to make a service members time overseas bearable.

In 2001 I joined the Air Force and was stationed in Germany for the next three years. Last year I deployed to the Middle East for the first time so I've run the gamut of the overseas experiance from a well developed garrison base to half developed deployed location. Through all this I was real grateful to have AFN there to bring me my shows even if they were 6 months late. When I was deployed I also watch alot of British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS).

So after my long tangent, was anyone here an overseas military brat or servicemember? What was AFN like back in the day. (or BFBS, April1980)