New commander among big changes in Europe - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

New commander among big changes in Europe

Gen. Carter F. Ham formally assumed command of U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army in ceremonies Monday at Campbell Barracks, Heidelberg, Germany.

Ham, who in his previous assignment was operations chief for the Joint Staff, replaced Lt. Gen. Gary D. Speer who has been acting commanding general since the June departure of the previous commander, Gen. David McKiernan, to Afghanistan.

During his remarks, Ham said, “I believe USAREUR is on the leading edge of transforming our military. That leading role brings with it some accompanying uncertainty and unpredictability. It’s my job to reduce some of that uncertainty.”

Headquarters for the Army’s oldest and largest overseas command, U.S. Army Europe, will convert to a deployable field army headquarters in fiscal 2009 as part of the drawdown and realignment of forces in Germany and Italy.

The 2009 transformation plan announced at command headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, on Aug. 26 sustains a phased realignment that began three years ago and is tentatively scheduled for completion in the 2012-13 time frame.

The plan was modified earlier this year to support the Grow the Army program.

The military community of Baumholder, Germany, previously slated for closure, will be retained as an enduring post.

Additionally, the Army will station four brigade combat teams, up from two, in Europe for at least the next five years.

Included in the arsenal of maneuver forces are the Germany-based 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment at Vilseck, the 172nd Brigade Combat Team at Grafenwoehr, the 170th Brigade Combat Team (a unit currently flagged as the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Armored Division) at Baumholder, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Vicenza, Italy.

Unless further modified, the realignment will result in about 33,000 soldiers being stationed in Europe by 2013.

Currently, there are 40,000 soldiers in theater, 20,000 fewer than when the drawdown began.

The 2009 transformation plan announced in Heidelberg calls for several units to convert, inactivate and relocate during the coming year as the command collapses into six main operating posts.

Those are Stuttgart, Ansbach, Kaiserslautern, Wiesbaden and Grafenwoehr in Germany and Vicenza in Italy.

Most noticeable among the new round of moves is the conversion of the headquarters elements of USAREUR headquarters and V Corps headquarters into the command and control element of 7th Army.

USAREUR, throughout most of its 65-year history, has been a nontactical and nondeployable organization.

Under the new organization, 7th Army headquarters will be deployable and capable of serving as an operations command center away from home station, according to information provided by command operations officials.

The transformation plan calls for 7th Army to serve as the Army component command for U.S. European Command in Stuttgart.

The senior Army element commander in Europe is a four-star general, and that arrangement is expected to continue under the new alignment, according to Bruce Anderson, USAREUR spokesman.

As part of the command-and-control changes, 7th Army will be headquartered at Wiesbaden as soon as new facilities at that post are ready.

The selection of Wiesbaden as command-and-control headquarters was based in part on the availability of a military airfield and force protection considerations, officials said.

Unlike the existing headquarters in Heidelberg, which is in a large city, the new headquarters will be in an open area more easily secured.

Other major changes in USAREUR

The fiscal 2009 transformation plan for the Army in Europe also includes:

Signal

• The 5th Signal Command in Mannheim will convert to a Theater Signal Command that will support strategic and theater communication needs.

The unit’s designation has not been determined. However, it will be located with 7th Army headquarters in Wiesbaden upon completion of new facilities.

• Headquarters, 2nd Signal Brigade in Mannheim will convert to a new structure and will move to Wiesbaden upon availability of facilities.

• The 7th Tactical Theater Signal Brigade in Mannheim will be moved to Schweinfurt.

• The 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion in Mannheim will be moved to Schweinfurt.

Military Intelligence

• The 66th Military Intelligence Group headquarters at Wiesbaden will convert to the 66th Military Intelligence Brigade.

• The 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion headquarters in Wiesbaden will convert to the 24th Military Intelligence Operations Battalion.

• The 2nd Military Intelligence (Collection and Exploitation) Battalion in Wiesbaden will convert to the 2nd Military Intelligence (Forward Collection) Battalion.

Engineer

• The 596th Engineer Company (Horizontal) will activate in Schweinfurt, completing the buildup of the 15th Engineer Battalion that began in 2007.

• The 535th Engineer Company in Grafenwoehr will move to Schweinfurt.

Military Police

• The 2nd Platoon, 615th Military Police Company at Ansbach will move to Grafenwoehr.

Support and Service Conversions

• Headquarters for the 7th Army Reserve Command in Kaiserslautern will convert to the 7th Civil Support Command.

• The 720th Ordnance Company in Mannheim will convert to a modular company.

Support and Service Relocations

• The 405th Army Field Support Brigade Europe headquarters, and its associated logistics assistance representatives, will move from Seckenheim to Kaiserslautern.

• The 409th Contracting Support Brigade in Seckenheim will move to Kaiserslautern.

• The Civilian Human Resources Agency-Europe will move from Seckenheim to Kaiserslautern.

• The Army Contracting Command in Seckenheim will move to Kaiserslautern.

• The Regional Contracting Office in Wiesbaden will move to Kaiserslautern.

• The 635th Movement Control Team at Wiesbaden will move to Kaiserslautern.

Activations

• 517th Medical Company, Baumholder.

• 516th Augmentation Platoon, Ansbach.

• 23rd Augmentation Platoon, Baumholder.

• 146th Augmentation Platoon, Stuttgart.

• 148th Augmentation Platoon, Wiesbaden.

• 512th and 514th Augmentation Platoons, Grafenwoehr.

• 545th Augmentation Platoon, Kaiserslautern.

• 522nd Augmentation Platoon, Schweinfurt.

• 820th Augmentation Platoon, Hohenfels.

Inactivations

• 1st Armored Division Support Command, Wiesbaden.

• 76th Army Band, Mannheim.

• 147th Adjutant General Postal Company, Baumholder.

• 566th Adjutant General Postal Company, Mannheim.

Return to the U.S.

• 109th Transportation Company, Mannheim.

• 495th Movement Control Team, Vicenza.

• 606th Movement Control Team, Mannheim.

DISCUSS: Changes at USAREUR HQ