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Why is "MAN KAT Kultur" so vibrant in Germany?
I was thinking a bit about why there is such a huge "MAN KAT Kultur" in Germany for vehicles converted to expedition motorhomes. And why there does not seem to be anything comparable in the United States, say, for converted MTVR trucks, or 2 1/2 ton M-35's. The M-35 was a very capable vehicle, and had a multi-fuel engine as well -- see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M35_2½-ton_cargo_truck. But I've searched the internet, and cannot seem to find any interesting examples of M-35 camper conversions. If anyone reading this knows of some, please post!
One possible explanation is this: universal military service in Germany.
The following is a theory, and only a theory. If anyone reading this thinks that it seems mistaken, please feel to counter-argue. But as this thread has developed, and as I've found myself researching the world of large, 6x6 expedition motorhomes, including big MAN KAT conversions, I could not help but notice how "German" this world seems. I then began wondering why.....
Universal military service in Germany has now ended -- see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Germany ,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/world/europe/01germany.html?pagewanted=all ,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/22/germany-abolish-compulsory-military-service ,
http://www.dw.de/germany-to-suspend-compulsory-military-service/a-6315122 , and
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ny-to-abolish-mandatory-military-service.html . And it's quite possible that the end of the draft in Germany was a bad idea, on multiple fronts -- see
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/03/29/germ-m29.html and
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703722804575368971783076314 . But for
egn's generation of German men, military service was still compulsory. And in the course of their military service, many young German men who are now middle-aged civilians learned how to drive big off-road MAN KAT 8x8 trucks.
Whereas the United States has had an all-volunteer military since 1973, when the Vietnam war was beginning to end. By 2011, only 20 % of the members of the combined U.S. Congress + Senate had served in the military, whereas in 1975 it was still 70 % -- see
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/01/20/congress.veterans/ ,
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/20/fewer-congress-vets/1716697/ ,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/17/veterans-congress-fewest_n_2144852.html , and
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...gress-have-little-direct-military-experience/ :
So too, the number of veterans as a percentage of the US population has been declining:
..... 
Furthermore, only about 1 % of recently sitting Congressmen and Senators have children who serve in the military -- see
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2270473 ,
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080123213710AAEIttt , and
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-22-iraq-congress_x.htm .
Many now worry that the U.S. military has become increasingly disconnected from civilian society, and that a kind of "military caste" has emerged -- see the excellent article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/o...r-military-drifting-apart.html?pagewanted=all . For instance, many current officers are the sons and daughters of previous officers. There is also a problem at the civilian end: studies have shown that politicians who themselves lack military experience are much more likely to (a) go to war prematurely, and (b) give up on a difficult war prematurely. In effect, politicians who have not themselves served in the military are "ADD" regarding questions of war. Whereas those who have military experience and who know just how terrible war is, will tend to be more cautious and less hawkish about going to war in the first place. But once they've made the decision to fight, they will also demonstrate true grit, determination, and perseverance.
For our immediate purposes, what this means is that in Germany right now, most 40 and 50 year-old men who want a big expensive MAN-KAT-based motorhome conversion, and who can afford one, will be military veterans who also know how to drive it, because the Bundeswehr taught them how to do so when they were young. Just like
egn. So in Germany there is a kind of "captive market" of able, ready, and willing MAN KAT motorhome drivers.
And these potential German MAN KAT motorhome drivers are not just from working-class, lower-middle-class, and middle-class backgrounds. Because of universal military service, many of those who know how to drive big MAN KATs come from upper-class family backgrounds. Perhaps after doing their military service they went on to university for engineering, where they got a Ph.D. After that they joined their father's medium-sized "Mittelstand" company. They are now in their 50's, they've inherited the family business, and they have (a) money, (b) technical expertise, and (c) a love of big MAN KATs. There is no equivalent class of men in the United States.
I have written about the Mittelstand before in this thread -- see posts #429 and #430 at
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...pedition-RV-w-Rigid-Torsion-Free-Frame/page43. But one of the more interesting aspects of Mittelstand companies is that those who run them tend to have doctorates (i.e. PhD's) in the Sciences. The heads of Miele, for instance, or the head of Beckhoff, are "
Dr. Markus Miele", "
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann", and "
Dr. Hans Beckoff" -- see
http://www.miele-project-business.com/international/en/project_business/values_3752.aspx and
http://www.beckhoff.co.uk/english.asp?press/news1011.htm . If you know anything about the Mittelstand, you will know that this is typical, and not unusual. Whereas in the United States and the UK many perfectly good manufacturing companies were driven in to the ground over the last 5 decades by CEOs who only had degrees in "Law", "Management", or "Finance".
For some good recent YouTube videos about the Mittelstand, see:
[video=youtube;Uad1Ma5DSMA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uad1Ma5DSMA [/video]
All best wishes,
Biotect
