Despite Donald Trump’s frequent bluster, Nadine Firmont said the US president’s move to pull American troops out of Germany had hit her town like a bombshell. “I have to tell you I was honestly shocked,” said Firmont, 45, who works at a high school in Landstuhl, south-west Germany , the heart of the largest American military community outside the US. Even with previous drawdowns and discussions of US redeployments, Trump’s angry outburst carried a blunt menace that startled Firmont and her neighbours. Late on Friday, the Pentagon announced it would reduce its troop numbers in Germany by 5,000 personnel – just under 15% of its presence in the country – in part by not deploying a battalion the Biden administration had planned to relocate there later this year. Ever since the march of Gen George Patton’s Third Army into the nearby city of Kaiserslautern in spring 1945, Americans have been woven into the fabric of life here. Helga makes her way to the spring carnival in Landstuhl.…