I just bought two of these as Radio Control aircraft
Posted on 04/04/2013 11:58:49 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. Army’s 69-year history of basing main battle tanks on German soil quietly ended last month when 22 Abrams tanks, a main feature of armored combat units throughout the Cold War, embarked for the U.S.
The departure of the last M-1 Abrams tanks coincides with the inactivation of two of the Army’s Germany-based heavy brigades. Last year, the 170th Infantry out of Baumholder disbanded. And the 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade at Grafenwöhr is in the process of doing the same.
On March 18, the remaining tanks were loaded up at the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s railhead in Kaiserslautern where they then made the journey to the shipping port in Bremerhaven, Germany. There they boarded a ship bound for South Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
1-509th and 2-509th, respectively, located at Lee Barracks in Mainz-Gonsenheim, Germany. These two battalions formed the infantry component of the 1st Brigade (Airborne), 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized). Other units of the brigade included the 5th Battalion (Airborne), 81st Artillery; Troop A (Airborne), 3rd Squadron, 8th Cavalry; and Company A (Airborne), 12th Engineer Battalion.
In 1973, as the division’s 1st Brigade jump status was ending, a new unit with the designation of 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry (bearing the lineage of WW II’s Co C, 509PIB) was activated to form an Airborne battalion combat team (ABCT) from elements of the existing Airborne forces within the brigade. After a brief training period at Rhine Kaserne barracks in West Germany, the unit moved to Vicenza, Italy, as a separate Airborne Battalion Combat Team and composed of a headquarters and headquarters company (HHC), a combat support company (CSC), three light infantry companies and one 105 mm towed field artillery battery, commanded by LTC Ward M. Lehardy. The colors of 1-509th and 2-509th were reflagged as 2-28th and 2-87th. Shortly after its arrival in Italy, 3-509th was reflagged as 1-509th.
LN?
Prior to the end of WWII, Europe, all or part of, was continually in a state of war. Our troops stationed there for 69 years gave Europe the only peace it has ever known.
IMHO the true “peace makers” of this world are not politicians or clergy or the UN - it is the United States Armed Forces. Praise God for all of them!!!
I don’t think we need our heavy tanks rusting on the border, nor would they serve any purpose, they might in Korea though.
People said the same thing just before Desert Storm. Then they said the same thing before GWII.
I still remember graduating from Jump School in '88 and some *military thinkers* were talking about how the days of the mass tactical parachute jumps were long since over...some of those articles appeared a week or so before Operation Just Cause.
Wow, the end of an era. IIRC, at one time there were more Armor Branch personnel stationed in Germany than in CONUS.
That reminds me of when we were in a convoy at Ft. Hood in the 70's. I was running a track behind a gasser M-88 one night. Since it was pretty cold, I was a little closer than I should have been to get some warmth off of his exhaust.
That is until he let off going down a small hill and that big 12 cylinder Continental backfired. Kept my distance after that.
I spent almost half of my 1st 3 year tour with 3rd Armd Div at Graf, Hohenfels, and Wildflecken. I was an artillery FO attached to a tank company, where I FO’ed off a M60A2 doing the concept test from what became the FIST teams. Thus I got to go through artillery gunnery, tank gunnery as a TC, and then maneuvers at Hohenfels and of course V Corps exercises and REFORGER participation.
The Strykers are staying, but the tanks are not. :(
They are bringing the tanks home...
Brought back good and bad, memories. 4th Armored Div. 144th Signal, 1966-67 Cooke Barracks. The coldest I’ve ever been in my life, was Feb. 14th 1967, on a field exercise.
He’s probably living with Elvis and JFK in some Texas retirement home.
Been there done that. I saw that several times working on those M88s and you could cook hotdogs in that flame. I was driving a COL at N FT Hood and we saw the lead road guard laying on the blade or an M88A1. We turned around, only to find them already at the wash area.
Thanks for the ping. I am surprised that the tanks were sent to South Carolina instead of Egypt.
COLD!
I just bought two of these as Radio Control aircraft
The US Army has now removed its last remaining tanks from German Soil by removing the last 22 tanks to South Carolina. And so it gradually goes...by wilting, desiccating, and erosion. The world is changing in ways difficult to notice, but no less significant for its invisibility.
The void which is formed is pregnant with calamity, and devoid of plans for the future.
I object.
I had that poster in my office for several years; a classic.
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