Posted on 04/12/2005 1:09:26 PM PDT by TexKat
HEIDELBERG, Germany (AFP) - The United States is going to reduce the number of American ground soldiers stationed in Europe to 24,000 from the current 64,000 troops within the next five to 10 years, a US army spokeswoman said.
The proposed troop reduction would result in only four of the 13 main operating bases remaining.
The four bases would be; Wiesbaden in central Germany, which would become the European headquarters for US ground forces, and Kaiserslautern in western Germany, Grafenwoehr in southern Germany and Vicenza in northern Italy, according to the spokeswoman, Elke Herberger.
The number of US army barracks and installations would drop from 236 to 88 with the reorganization, according to the American army in Europe website.
The US army is involved in a major redeployment in Europe so it can reassign soldiers back to the US or else to Eastern Europe.
The US rightfully flips Europe a symbolic military finger with this move.
Germany should be glad we are leaving.
The last I heard we were closing our bases in Germany and moving them to Bulgaria or other Eastern European countries. Maybe I had my hopes too high.
What? 3 of the 4 remaining bases will be in Germany.
More than likely of the 13 bases 12 were in Germany to begin with.
Let's see. 40,000 troops. Just for the sake of argument let's say they have an average $25,000 annual salary. And assume that most of them have their families with them or otherwise spend that money on the local economy. That is $1 Billion annually coming out of the economy of mostly Germany.
Wonder how that makes them feel about stabbing the U.S. in the back.
There's an article at Army Times that has more info (for subscribers only).
Basically, they DO want to have some Eastern European bases where troops would go for relatively short training deployments. Here's the link: USAREUR headquarters to move.
It looks like we could be getting to a point where soldiers could have a reasonable expectation that they will be in the United States in peacetime. That should help recruiting.
Hmmm, does this mean Patch Barracks in Stuttgart would close? That's home to EUCOM.
Back in the 80s when I was there, we had over 250,000 troops in the Frankfurt/K-town area alone. Glad to see we're keeping Vicenza. (Horrible training area, but gorgeous.)
That is $1 billion annually coming out of the economy of mostly Germany.
Easily, we only had about a fourth of the troops in Panama and we poured almost $400 million into theirs.
Dont forget the German nationals that work on post.
Well, yeah -- except for the fact that we're unlikely to be "in peacetime" for the rest of our lives. I think we're in a multi-century war with Islamic moonbats.
Lets look at the 35,000 we have in Korea protecting those ungrateful SOB.
What about the Air Force and Navy?
Lets look at the 35,000 we have in Korea protecting those ungrateful SOB.
The Navy's going to stay in Naples and Gaeta, though, evidently.
A lot people, like me, joined in hopes of going to Europe.
They say they'll continue to provide support for EUCOM. But this means Heidelberg's going away, except for the few people involved with the allies. I liked Heidelberg.
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