Ha! Ha! You are a sweetheart Mr. E ...
And thanks for your service! I think it's okay to also honor folks like you who *did* make it home from war!
Let me be clear. I NEVER served in a combat zone. I did, however, serve in West Berlin - 110 miles behind the Iron Curtain - during a relatively calm time in US - Soviet relations.
(Things "evened out" a little bit in 1971 with an agreement that basically said the Soviets weren't going to harass the Western Allies any more. Remind me to tell you a couple stories about Checkpoint Bravo.)
That said, I personally witnessed the Berlin Wall coming down. And I served in a PR capacity with my linguistic ability for the 298th Army Band. My German - at the time - met all the requirements for the Department of Defense in the "fluent" category. But that was a long time ago.
All the politics that came out of the Wall's demise meant both the demise for the Western Allies in eventually leaving Berlin and the politics that occurred during Reunification programs, causes, efforts, and events.
But I never served on or in a 2-way rifle range. Came close in 1991 when I was on orders for the 3rd Armored Division but there was one problem - they were already in the sandbox (Saudi just prior to Gulf War I) and didn't want newcomers.
So I stayed parked in Berlin until September 1991 when all the shootin' was over and done with.