Berlin Wall at Fort Leonard Wood

Getting to experience world history first hand does not always involve long distance journeys.  Sometimes history comes to us.  Growing up in the 1980’s the Cold War was simply a fact of life.  The United States’ rivalry with the Soviet Union dominated politics, economics, and even popular entertainment.  James Bond, Red Dawn, and Top Gun all made the threat of communism seem real and immediate.  My younger self would never have believed that the entire system would collapse in just a few years.

Although I have visited Berlin in the past, it has been several years.  On a visit to Fort Leonard Wood, it was neat to see that a piece of German Cold War history has been preserved right here in Missouri.  A segment of the wall that used to divide East and West Berlin was brought here to help people remember the impact that the Cold War truly had.  As screwed up as the world may still be, it is good to see that we have at least made progress in certain areas.