What U.S. troops mean to one German town

0:00If the brain is like a computer, then Kyla Madonna-Kennies was crashing. The room was spinning and I was shaking, but only on one side. Doctors couldn't see anything physically wrong with Kyla's brain, with the hardware, so to speak. The problem was with the software. And the condition she was eventually diagnosed with is called functional neurological disorder. To learn about this invisible illness, listen to Shortwave on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Today on State of the World, what U.S. troops mean to one German town.

0:33You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. The U.S. announced earlier this month it is withdrawing some 5 ,000 troops from Germany. That's out of more than 36 ,000 stationed there. The move comes after President Trump expressed anger at the NATO ally. Germany's chancellor had said the U.S. has been humiliated by Iran. And PR's Rob Schmitz takes us to a town in Bavaria that has hosted U.S. troops for decades and now is worried about them leaving. It was Torsten Gredler's first day on the job as mayor of the Bavarian town of Wilsack when, at his very first press conference, a journalist told him the news.

1:18There are no news. There are no news. It's very bad news, the journalist told Gredler, telling the new mayor about a German media report that said Trump's cuts to troops in Germany would mean the removal of 5 ,000 troops from Wilsack. Gredler's face sank. Are you serious, he asked. He then started tearing up. This is hitting me hard, he said. I have to admit, I'm pretty emotional, actually. Since that day, Gredler's been busy doing interviews with international media, that have descended on his tiny town, population 6 ,500. While I wait for him outside his office, a church bell rings and roosters in the alley behind City Hall respond.

2:04This tiny Bavarian town has a 1 ,000-year-old castle, a 700-year-old watchtower, and a mayor in office for just a few days who's facing one of the town's biggest crises in its history.

2:18If what they say is true, says Grimler, and 5 ,000 soldiers are taken from our town, along with their family members, we're talking another 12 ,000 to 13 ,000 people leaving Vilsack. That's double the number of the people who reside here. This will have dramatic consequences. For decades, Vilsack has hosted the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, a striker infantry unit of the U.S. Army, whose 5 ,000 soldiers are trained to deploy quickly for combat. If these soldiers are suddenly withdrawn, Graidler says his town stands to lose more than$800 million of revenue per year. But he says it will also be a cultural loss.

2:58Over the decades, Americans, says Graidler, have become an integral part of our social and cultural life. They rent apartments from us. They shop in our stores. They dine in our restaurants and taverns. The children of American families play for our local soccer clubs, and many of them attend our schools. For us in Filsack, normally we don't split Germans-Americans. They are part of Filsack. That's one big community. Down the street from City Hall, Zabina Kedur runs the Angerer Hotel. Her family has owned this hotel since 1666, and they've seen a lot in their nearly 400 years of ownership. But Kedur says the thought of losing the American population brings her to tears.

3:40They make our birthday parties. We were small. So the other ones, they go out with my dad for fishing, for hunting, for whatever. They was together in Oktoberfest. That's... friends. Keder says she's gotten so used to having Americans around that she now prefers to work with Americans over Germans. She says they're more easygoing. A cross town at a pub called the Hammer Guesthouse, a group of retired men drink beer, or what they call Bavarian bread. All of them have heard the news about the U.S. troops, but none of them believe it'll happen, says Richard Schmidt, a retired businessman in town.

4:19We don't believe it. This is not logical. This is only a stupid idea from Trump. The rest of the men nod their heads and take sips of their Bavarian bread. Schmidt estimates three out of every four people in Vilsack would lose their jobs if President Trump follows through on this threat. But he says Trump has threatened to remove these troops before, and he's threatened to take Greenland. Schmitz says Trump makes lots of threats against Europe, but hasn't followed through on hardly any of them. Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Vilsack, Bavaria.

4:59That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.