AntiWar.com & Army Times & The Local – 2017-03-16 13:01:28
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US Army Seeking New Bases for Deployments in Europe
Jason Ditz / AntiWar.com
(March 9, 2017) — While US Army officials insist no specific decision has been made on any new deployments, officials familiar with the situation say that the Army has begun seeking sites for new bases in Europe, with a pair of locations in Northern Germany having already been scouted.
It is interesting that Germany is being scouted, since most recent US deployments into Europe have been further east, with an eye toward getting large numbers of troops along the Russian border. US troops have deployed to Poland and the Baltic states.
It’s also surprising because it was only a few years ago that the US was openly trying to reduce the number of troops deployed to Europe as a money-saving measure, and as a part of a planned “Asian pivot” that would get more US troops deployed around the Pacific rim.
Of course, this is par for the course for the Pentagon, where paying for a new deployment by cutting out an old one often ends with the US doing both, and Congress cheerfully footing the bill irrespective of the justification for the deployments, or lack thereof.
US Army Is Reportedly Seeking New Bases in Europe
Ashley Bunch / Army Times
(March 9, 2017) — The US Army is reportedly considering new locations to base more soldiers in Europe. A team from US Army Europe scouted two facilities in northern Germany, according to Stars and Stripes.
German officials said the Army told them it was considering putting as many as 4,000 soldiers there. “At this time no decisions have been made; we are engaged in prudent planning only,” said USAREUR said in a statement to Stars and Stripes.
The Army has been steadily downsizing in Europe since the Cold War ended, but after Russia’s recent intervention in Ukraine, Pentagon officials are reviewing Europe’s force structure.”Anything we do will involve consultation with host nation(s) [and] allies,” USAREUR said.
Thousands of US Soldiers to Leave Germany
The Local
(January 13, 2012) — The US military will withdraw thousands of soldiers from Germany as the American military takes half of its troops out of Europe as part of a forces redeployment to focus more on the Middle East and Asia.
American Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta said two of the four combat brigades currently in Europe would be moved. That is between 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers in total.
As three of those four brigades are in Germany, several thousand US soldiers stationed here are bound to be packing their bags soon. The third brigade is in Italy. Panetta said other units would be moved and out of Europe on a rotational basis.
Panetta played down the effect of the withdrawal on European communities by saying that many combat troops had been sent to Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years anyway.
In a written statement, Lt. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, who is the Army’s commanding general in Europe said he could not release details.
“Until those plans mature and are formally approved, we can provide no further information regarding specific units or communities involved, or the methods of rotating units,” he said.
But the US military’s Stars and Stripes newspaper said that previous discussion about troop withdrawal from Germany had focused on Army troops stationed in Grafenwöhr, Bavaria and Baumholder, Rhineland-Palatinate.
Approximately 41,000 US Army personnel are currently based in Europe, with the majority in Germany. There are about 80,000 US military personnel, including the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps members in Europe
US authorities have been steadily reducing their European forces since the end of the Cold War, when more than 200,000 US military personnel were stationed on the continent.
The British government has also announced a withdrawal of its own, with half of the country’s 20,000 Germany-based troops returning home by 2015 and the rest leaving by 2020.
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