rickusn

"The Army had about 250,000 soldiers stationed in Europe for four decades. After the Cold War ended, through the 1990s and early 2000, the number was reduced to about 64,000.

Three years ago, the Army announced it would eventually draw down to 28,000 soldiers in Europe by around 2010, and it started moving troops and units back to the U.S.

Currently, about 45,000 soldiers are based in Europe. The Navy and Air Force have been undergoing a similar transformation in Europe."

Stars and Stripes: Pace: DOD considers halting Europe drawdown

Anybody know the breakdown of these troops??

ie Combat vs support

Thanks Rick

USAF data:
Air Force Magazine Online

"It's a question under consideration, he said. Since the end of the Cold War, US Air Forces in Europe has dropped from 25 bases to just five and reduced its aircraft from 850 to about 200."

-{SpoonmaN}-

All I know about is the massive US Military hospital at Landstuhl.

I figure, if the Europeans can get their act together (I know, hilarious), then the new EU Multi-National Army that will probably be formed sooner or later could take over the US bases as you guys pack up. That way the local economy doesn't take as great a hit, and Germany is right in the middle of the joint, plus it has all the NATO infrastructure there, so it'd be a logical centre of gravity for such a force. The locals would have to learn a bunch of new languages since they'd be dealing with soldiers from Lisbon to Bucharest, but hey, adapt or die.
And no, I'm not drunk.

__________________
"I have this to say to the people of Australia: Kick me, I'm different."

kato

I live right next to USAREUR / V CORPS / LANDCENT HQ. So here's the stuff from Germany:

Army combat units in Germany, as planned, will be restricted pretty much to one Stryker Brigade (established in Vilseck and Grafenwöhr in 2005) as far as i know. There's something about a second brigade somewhere in the back of my head, but can't find anything about it. Anyway, the combat units will account for maximum 8,000 of those 28,000 future soldiers. I've also read the number 24,000 a couple times recently, so maybe the difference is that brigade i "misplaced".

Almost everything else is support - in the sense of HQs (Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Wiesbaden), intercontinental logistics turntables (Mannheim in particular), signals and comms, training sites (Mannheim for aviation, Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels for ground-based) and hospitals (Landstuhl, Heidelberg).

A lot of smaller sites will be closed within the next 1-3 years, and some larger sites (like Heidelberg) may also be hit. Planning accounts for 4-5 major sites (3,000+ soldiers each), and maybe a dozen or two remaining smaller sites where needed.

The focus will really be on support by 2010. The only combat troops to remain in Germany will be quick-mobilization/-deployment troops, and not exactly all that many. The primary purpose of Germany in the Army vision is to provide a logistics hub, and a fallback/recuperation base for both regular returning and medevac'ed soldiers.

The major sites are also considered for massive drawdowns or moving, though in some cases the costs may be prohibitive - e.g. there is a SIGINT/COMINT site near Heidelberg that was already supposed to be moved elsewhere ten years ago; costs in excess of $50 million for moving the equipment (with proper security) prevented this.

German communities are really eyeing this with mixed feelings - on the one hand, they're losing some commercial market and a large civilian employer (on a vital level only in small towns), on the other hand they gain prime real estate from this. This is because the real estate will fall back to the communities once the US removes its troops - unlike in other nations, the US Army got its sites in Germany from seizing old German sites, or lawfully dispossessing former owners.
In some areas, this is seen as an excellent chance to make money, or to provide more prepared residential and industrial areas for further growth. The same thing happened in East Germany 13 years ago pretty much with the Russian withdrawal. It does not happen with Bundeswehr drawdowns, since the Bundeswehr actually owns the real estate their bases are on (so there's only the bad side for these drawdowns).

Ucar

For a detailed report and breakdown of US troops abroad, please check the following link :

- New SIPRI Policy Paper: Foreign Military Bases in Eurasia

The file is ready to download and very comprehensive.

rickusn

Thanks Gentlemen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!