a half thousand. by comparison about fifty five thousand u.s. citizens live in the surrounding region which includes the city of kaiserslautern. the americans are welcome customers at local businesses and since who wants like on average the americans pump about two point three billion dollars per year into the kaiser's loughton regional economy as the on learning. that includes wages salaries rent payments on construction projects does the stuff that's a yearly average. and we have. the presence of the u.s. military is both a blessing and a curse on the one hand it makes a major contribution to the local economy on the other much of its work is shielded from the public. these few remaining bunkers date back to the nazi era they were cut into the local sandstone deposits as part of the system of defenses known as the sea creature line. after the war the allies developed this region as