Gates considers delaying drawdown in Europe - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Gates considers delaying drawdown in Europe

A proposal strongly endorsed by Army leaders that would keep four brigade combat teams in Europe, rather than two, continues to be analyzed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his staff.

“The secretary has not made any final decisions with respect to the issue of brigades,” said Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman.

Speaking at a Nov. 21 press briefing, Whitman denied that Gates has approved a plan to halt the drawdown of Army forces in Europe, as reported in New York Times the same day.

The plan was proposed by Gen. Bantz Craddock, commander of U.S. European Command, and Gen. David McKiernan, commander of U.S. Army Europe.

Craddock, who also is senior commander of NATO forces, officially requested the freeze this past summer when he and his staff determined that a tactical force of 40,000 soldiers and four brigade combat teams should be maintained in Germany and Italy.

Under a plan launched three years ago, and subsequently supported by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission recommendations of 2005, USAREUR is on a glide path to reach an end state of 28,000 soldiers in two to three years. When the drawdown began, there were 62,000 soldiers in theater.

During budget testimony in March, Craddock told the House Armed Services Committee that because of “numerous changes in the security dynamic,” a delay in the USAREUR drawdown was probably warranted.

Issues prompting the force level review include the requirement to train and work with new North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, many of them former Warsaw Pact members, and to reinforce the U.S. commitment to European security at a time of strained relations between NATO and Russia.

Complicating that formula is the requirement for USAREUR, just like other major Army commands, to deploy forces to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Currently two of USAREUR’s four brigade combat teams, a combat aviation brigade and a division headquarters, are serving combat deployments. Of the two other brigades, one has just returned from Iraq, and the other is scheduled to deploy in the spring.

Speaking at a conference of European military officials in Heidelberg, Germany Oct. 30, McKiernan said, “the current plan we’re on takes us down to 28,000 soldiers. I go on record as saying that’s not enough to do our missions today.”

Just weeks earlier, while in Washington for the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting, McKiernan cited potential problems in the Balkans and a resurgent Russia as compelling reasons to stop the drawdown.

Who might stay

Should Gates approve Craddock’s proposal, the two major units most likely affected will be the Germany-based 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, and the 2nd BCT of the 1st Armored Division, Baumholder.

Under the transformation plan, these brigades are slated to return to the United States by 2009, to rejoin their divisions at Fort Bliss, Texas, home of the 1st AD, and Fort Riley, Kan., home of the 1st ID.

If they remain in Germany, the two brigades, along with the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment at Vilseck and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Vicenza, Italy, will comprise a ground maneuver force of nearly 20,000 soldiers.

Brig. Gen. David G. Perkins, USAREUR operations officer, said in an earlier interview that despite the force level review, and the possibility that the drawdown will be delayed, the command is committed to reorganizing into five “hub” communities.

Four of those communities — Wiesbaden, Kaiserslautern, Grafenwoehr and Ansbach — are in Germany, and the fifth, Vicenza, in northern Italy.

Grafenwoehr, along with the nearby communities of Vilseck and Hohenfels, will see the greatest growth, increasing to 10,000 by 2009, about 7,800 more than just two years ago.

In addition to serving as home base for the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, this hub encompasses USAREUR’s major training areas and firing ranges, and is in close proximity to most maneuver forces, to include an aviation brigade that will be based at Ansbach.

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William H. McMichael contributed to this story.