Free Republic

The U.S. military’s new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday, with a goal of getting a battalion of about 500 troops back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley, who plans to visit the Grafenwoehr training area on Monday to get a first-hand look at the program, said the troops being trained left Ukraine a few days ago. In Germany is a full set of weapons and equipment for them to use. Until now the Pentagon...

-excerpt- "We Germans fought for the Russians to go, now we are fighting for the Americans to stay," jokes Brunner, chairman of the German-American contact club in Grafenwoehr, whose lifeblood is its U.S. military base. -excerpt- News that the 172nd infantry brigade, with its 3,500 soldiers and 8,000 family members, is being pulled from Grafenwoehr to return to the United States has hit this town hard. After 67 years of living together, locals in Bavaria say the Americans are not just their employers and customers, but also close friends. -excerpt- Under the new strategy, two combat brigades, one in Grafenwoehr,...

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...

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A U.S. soldier died after his tank rolled over in deep mud during a training exercise in southern Germany, a spokesman with the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division said Thursday. Two other soldiers managed to escape from the tank before it filled with water and mud, but the third became trapped below the gun turret and had to be freed by rescue workers, Maj. Thomas Shrader said. The 24-year-old victim, whose name was not released pending notification of his family, died later in a German hospital. The accident, which occurred last Friday, took place on the...