The Heidelberger mayor Eckart Würzner said he felt very sad about the departure of the US Army:
“After World War II no-one in Heidelberg knew the way into the future. The US Army worked to educate the young generation about how democracy works. It gave Heidelberg a perspective and helped the city get back on its feet and on its way to democracy,” he said.
He's right, and you can look at Eastern European countries to see what would've happened otherwise.
However, this isn't the Army we're talking about (obviously, they're leaving), but the NSA, whose mission is to gather intelligence to protect the US, so it's kinda funny that it uses bases smack in the middle of foreign countries...
“After World War II no-one in Heidelberg knew the way into the future. The US Army worked to educate the young generation about how democracy works. It gave Heidelberg a perspective and helped the city get back on its feet and on its way to democracy,” he said.