Posted on 08/01/2014 1:37:34 PM PDT by thetallguy24
BERLIN—A German will for the first time become chief of staff of the U.S. Army in Europe, a sign of further cooperation between the two nations despite a chill caused by allegations of U.S. spying here.
Brig. Gen. Markus Laubenthal from Germany's Bundeswehr will report to Lt. Gen. Donald Campbell, the U.S. commander for U.S. Army Europe, known as USAREUR, with headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany.
"This is a bold and major step forward in USAREUR's commitment to operating in a multinational environment with our German allies," Gen. Campbell said.
The appointment of a German to the position has been several months in the making and is part of the U.S. Army's strategy to internationalize the command of its overseas operations.
The U.S. Army in Europe said in March it was in talks to appoint a German brigadier general as its new chief of staff.
Still, German officials said the decision—less than a month after Berlin asked the top U.S. intelligence official in the German capital to leave the country following the arrest of a suspected U.S. spy in the ranks of the German intelligence service—showed the two countries were working together as closely as ever on other security fronts.
"It's a sign of the continuing, very deep cooperation with the Americans," Lt. Gen. Rainer Korff, the commander of German contingents in multinational forces, said. "We didn't even have this in the dark times of the Cold War."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I have not trusted the Germans since the bombed Pearl Harbor
I’m all for good relations with Germany, but I still think that USA military should stay under USA command.
I’m with you on that and in addition I blame the Japs for bombing London in 1940!
Baron Von Steuben?
Makes no sense to me. I didn’t think there were any German units in USAREUR. And how the heck could he figure out all our regs and procedures?
Were there no more American gays Obama could put in charge of our troops? He’s now putting foreigners in charge of our troops?
its over
East German or West German?
This may set a precedent. It will become more common for Obama to have foreigners holding positions of responsibility in their native country vs giving that job to an American. A foreign born commanding officer will not blink twice if /when Obama orders them to mass arrest actual citizens of this country. This is not a good move, but knowing Obama as we now do, it is not unexpected. Obviously, one would presume the german officer is going to be far more likely to listen to Angela Merkel two cities away, vs The Kenyan who continues his illegal reign over the Americans, over 4000 miles away.
Someone here more familiar with the European command than me will correct me, but the CoS is subordinate to the CiC and the CiC is and always will be an American. I also think that NATO has a similar multinational command structure.
Is Hitler reacting yet?
Hussein must not be ready to withdraw from NATO
I’ll second that emotion.
Oh wait. Does he take the oath swearing to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America?
Does he have a history of working well with Iranians?
Same here.
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