Another armored brigade to Europe
Just three years ago, we were talking about the last tanks to leave Germany. Since then, the Pentagon changed it’s collect mind and moved another armored brigade to Europe. The Associated Press reports that yet another brigade is going to be stationed there early next year;
The officials said the Army will announce Wednesday that it will be sending a full set of equipment with the brigade to Europe. Earlier plans had called for the Pentagon to rotate troops into Europe, where they would have used a set of training equipment pre-positioned there.
The new proposal would remove the pre-positioned equipment, send it to be refurbished, and allow the U.S. forces to bring more robust, modern equipment in with them when they deploy. There are about 4,500 soldiers in an armored brigade, along with dozens of heavy vehicles, tanks and other equipment.
The picture at the top is of the last US tank to leave Europe, in case you wanted to remember. We kept troops in Europe to prevent a Soviet invasion, and as soon as we leave, the Russians become a threat again. Sort of like the situation in Iraq. While we’re certainly not the world’s policemen, but, if not us, who?
Category: Big Pentagon
I did read on AFP this morning that there is a rumor of a communist conspiracy underway in Poland. I’ll see if I can find that elsewhere.
I guess what goes around, comes around.
ya, Comrade. It takes ones mind off of our own home-grown communist conspiracy.
word ^^^^^
This was done to save money after big cuts by congress. We seems to go through this over and over. The lesson is never learned.
Let them review the cost of road repairs written into our agreements. Consider also the cost to ship those puppies by rail to avoid road repairs.
Ever ship one of those tracks by rail? half the track rides over both sides of the railcar.
And yet we still foot 75 percent of the NATO bill for THEIR backyard.
Concur. We’ve been floating their defense since 1945. Time to cut ’em loose. “You got this”.
We didn’t leave enough hardware in the ME for the jihadists, so Barry has decided to make plenty available for them in Europe, too. Because if you think that armor is for the Russians, I’ve got a bridge for you. And my only complaint about that is, we won’t know how to fight the jihadists any better there than we did in the ME, and yes, we will pull out of there with the job unfinished, just like we did in the ME.
I was going to post this but you beat me to it. The only things the Obama military do is for strategic value for the Islamist enemy.
I was 9 when the wall fell so I only really ‘get’ the Cold War in historical context. It looks like my (nonexistent) kids will get to see one.
Joy.
When I was about 5 years old I was looking at a globe of the world and would point to a country and my Dad would tell me something about it.
I pointed to a large country and he said “that is communist Russia; they are the ones causing us so much trouble”.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I was in Fulda in 84-85 and Bamberg when the wall came down.
Interesting and exciting times…
One of the old dog NCOs in our 3 shop was in the Berlin Brigade. The stories he’d tell… No wonder he had a DILLIGAF attitude. Seconds away from being turned into glass will do that to you.
Good dude.
When I was in the Blackhorse, our battle plans were only for 3 days. Supposedly enough time for V and VII Corps to get positioned and start hammering the Red Horde. On my next trip to Germany I was in a Corps support arty Bn. The battle plan there was to hold the line for 10 days. By then troops from the US were to be getting in place (actual REFORGER).
Yeah – right.
Who does the Pentagon think they are fooling? We had two Corps in Germany in the 80s, and even then things would have been very iffy if the Soviets had actually attacked. The only think that really kept the status quo in Europe until the USSR disintegrated was the nuclear option. A couple of brigades against Russian land forces is nothing. The article also said this move was coupled with removal of prepositioned equipment, so now there is no way to quickly reinforce with armored forces. Pure political theater.
Russia today isn’t the big bad Soviet Bear of yesterday.
Russia today is hard pressed to put a single division into expeditionary mode.
I seriously doubt that Russia today could feed and supply a full single brigade outside its own borders.
Remember the Soviet invasion plan from the day:
Tactical nukes, some chemicals and they were going to roll right in.
And they would have rolled right in because we expected only armor and chemicals and that’s what we trained to.
They still got the nukes…
REFORGER 2016 count me in.
I wonder what the old war stock in Holland looks like?
I’m up for it.
Vriezenveen here we come.
Last time I saw our POMCUS stocks there was the draw and turn-in after REFORGER85, but they should be good to go.
As I remember the last Reforger I saw in 90 was mainly played on laptops. Looks like a whole new generation will get to experience the joys of the washrack at Graf 🙂 .
I’d be content to keep Germany off the table. I did a tour in West Germany in the late ’60s, and the German women said that, if it came to it, the German men would do it all, again, not that there were many of the original fighting generation left.
Totally aside from the military advantages of having something somewhat available across the ocean, the military personnel and their dependents are by far the largest group of Americans who have any experience at all in dealing with other countries. The Internet simply is no substitute for foreign travel, and our people, particularly on the east and west coasts, are disappointingly provincial.
Don’t worry about it, after President Sanders is inaugurated, all those bomber jet planes riding shotgun in the sky will turn into butterflies above our nation.
Hey, somebody should write a song about that. 😀
There was a song written about that, some hippie guy and his stank-ass hippie wife sang it. Then he got a clue, she never did.
The first line was a perfect description of Lars and all of the Bernouts.
“They say we’re young, and we don’t know, won’t find out until we’re grown”.
Just goes to show history is moves in circular motions.