Brigade Combat Team draws down, allows for STRYKER Stationing

HQ USAEUR ^ | July 18, 2005 | unattributed

[SandRat]

STUTTGART, Germany — To set the conditions for stationing a Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Vilseck, Germany, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, now stationed there, will reduce to cadre strength beginning in summer 2005. Included in the 3rd BCT are a field artillery battalion and an engineer company in Bamberg, Germany and two company-sized units from the 1st Infantry Division, stationed in Wuerzburg and Kitzingen, Germany.

The effective deployment of Stryker in and out of Germany remains one of our highest priorities as we proceed with our plans. We will be working over the coming months to secure all requisite agreements for the brigade's effective movement within Europe.

Approximately 2,900 Soldiers and 3,990 family members will be directly affected by this action. Six U.S. civilians and no local national employees work directly for the tactical units of 3rd Brigade Combat Team. We will evaluate the requirements for garrison support as it becomes clearer what support is needed between the departure of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team and the arrival of the Stryker Brigade, and may make appropriate adjustments that would affect garrison personnel. We will comply with all standard notification procedures, should there be a requirement for such actions. The incoming Stryker Brigade will be eventually manned with about 3,900 Soldiers, as well as about 20 Department of the Army civilian employees and 100 contractor personnel.

These changes are part of the President's overall plan to transform the military to create a more mobile, agile and expeditionary joint force in the face of the threats posed by the Global War on Terrorism. A fundamental part of this plan is to station our forces around the globe to be best able to respond to the threats of the new security environment. Our end-state footprint will be strategic in scope and global in reach, ensuring we have the desired capabilities at locations that enable us to engage rapidly and with great flexibility.

We remain committed to our European allies, including Germany. The forward stationing of a Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Europe demonstrates continuing U.S. commitment to NATO and parallels NATO's own transformation to a more mobile, agile and expeditionary force.

[SandRat]

Army reorganization

[ExcursionGuy84]

Shoot me 4 being dumb on this but...

Does This ive our Divisions/BCT's more autonomous power/flexibility to operate more independently in worst-circumstance scenarios??

Examples: China resuscitates Cold War/births WW3 with Nuke Attack on CONUS [CONtinental Unites States]; Iran "goes STUPID" & Fires first/alongside China; Any attack cuts off USA from outside Bases/deployed Divisons, Fleets, Air Gruops, etc.

[SandRat]

Each BCT is fully self container from fighters to maintainers, intel to signals. It's a totally self contained unit that can fight and fix as they go and can go anywhere at the drop of a hat. Sort of the P-N-P idea translated to the Army.

[bnelson44]

Yes and Stryker BCTs are arguably better setup for urban warfare.

[ExcursionGuy84]

P-N-P???

I'm sorry, I got lost on that one, It's new to me.

[Jonah Hex]

Plug-and-Play

[SandRat]

Plug and Play.

[Calpernia]

To set the conditions for stationing a Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Vilseck, Germany, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, now stationed there, will reduce to cadre strength beginning in summer 2005. Included in the 3rd BCT are a field artillery battalion and an engineer company in Bamberg, Germany and two company-sized units from the 1st Infantry Division, stationed in Wuerzburg and Kitzingen, Germany.

The effective deployment of Stryker in and out of Germany remains one of our highest priorities as we proceed with our plans. We will be working over the coming months to secure all requisite agreements for the brigade's effective movement within Europe.

[2111USMC]

"Plug and Play."

Got to admit, this old Marine didn't know what PNP is either.

However, I'm certain the USMC is still "plugging'" 'em!

[SandRat]

Think of it in Marine terms MAU, MEU, MEF and you have the idea.

[quadrant]

Just what are these troops in Germany for? Trips to the Bavarian ski slopes perhaps? Side trips to the Riviera?
Why do European allies need US troops?

[SandRat]

Yep resorts to Kosovo, rotations to Iraq, fun vacation spots like that as well as NATO training and forays to Russia and the former republics/satellite countries to train with the indigenous forces and show the FLAG. Yeah real prize vacation spots.

[quadrant]

Rubbish. Kosovo is a European problem. Why are training forays in Russia needed? Are you expecting a revitalized Red Army to come thundering through the Fulda Gap?
Isn't it time to bring this silly and archaic NATO military commitment to an end?
As for rotations to Iraq: those could be handled from the US.
The US need to "prioritize" its military commitments, and the alleged defense needs of Western Europe should be at the bottom of the list. Anyone who believes that there is going to be another WWII style land war in Europe needs to think again. The Europeans simply haven't got the will to fight another war like that. The continent couldn't survive such a contest. When it was over, all Muslims would have to do is walk in and take over because there wouldn't be the will to stop them. The best thing to do is to bring these troops home and prepare them for locations in the Middle East and Asia where they will be needed.

[SandRat]

I suggest you first go here http://www.army.mil/organization/ then click on USEUCOM and that will take you to http://www.army.mil/organization/location/useucom.html where you'll see the units and their location and those are all active links. Start clicking, reading, learning.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[quadrant]

Simply having a lot of active links proves nothing, except that no one has given serious thought to the purpose of stationing all those highly trained and valuable personnel in an area where they are unneeded.
For instance, I clicked on the web site of the 1st Armored Division. The site advertised that one of its units was participating in a joint training mission with the Romanian military. I'm certain they are doing just that, but why? And don't respond with an evasion such as that's the mission of the 1st Armored Division.
A proper response is an analysis of the US military and political needs that might cause us to need to conduct joint operations with the Romanian military. Are we expecting the territorial integrity of Romania to be threatened? If so, by whom? When? Perhaps the Romanian will want to settle old scores with Hungary over Translyvania? But then the US would be in the awkward position of possibly having conducted joint operations with both sides.
All those links prove is that the US Army is capable of filing up soldiers' time and not analyzing whether the tasks they are training for has the remotest possibility of occurring.
An article I read years ago (written by a field grade officer) said that the US needed to be involved in NATO because the US Army needed a mission.
Ignoring the idiocy of that comment - as if the needs of the Army should drive foreign policy rather than the other way around - the US Army did need to be involved with NATO -when the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany numbered hundreds of thousands of men and thousands of tanks, aircraft, and artillery tubes.
Those days are over. Vanished, tone and tint, gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were.
Its time to bring the troops home and have them train for tasks that they are most likely to be called to perform.