U.S. Army to Leave 13 Bases in Germany

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/germany_us_bases

BERLIN - The U.S. Army will pull out of 13 bases in southern Germany as part of its repositioning of American forces around the world, its European headquarters said Friday.

Eleven bases in and around the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg will be handed over to the German government by September 2007, the Army's European headquarters in Heidelberg said. Two more bases near Wuerzburg will close and be handed over in subsequent years.

While facilities like the huge Ramstein Air Base, a hub for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being retained, Washington is bringing many units home and opening smaller, more flexible bases abroad to respond to new threats such as international terrorism.

The new bases will host U.S.-based troops rotating through for shorter periods of time, without the schools and family housing that went with Cold War-era bases.

[Mich Otter]

1. How many bases do we have in other countries?

I didn't know we had so many bases in Germany, I thought there were only three or four.
It is obvious to me that our government leaders, both Republicans and Democrats, put a higher priority in having overseas bases than they do on taking care of needs, like health care, here at home.
If we are ever going to have health care for all Americans, I believe we are going to have to close a lot of overseas military facilities so we can spend that money here at home.
And, just maybe, some of the people in the world who hate our interference in their affairs, will appreciate our tending to our own business.

[sandnsea]

2. Most people think that, until

The Presidential election and "he cut defense" gobbledygook muddles up everybody's mind.

[Oerdin]

3. Payback

While some of these bases were no longer needed now that the cold war is over the deepness of the cuts and how they're concentrated in Germany leads me to believe this is Bush's long awaited pay back to Germany for daring to question Bush's WMD lies. Just look at the domestic base closure list and how the vast, vast majority of them come from blue states or atleast effect districts represented by Democrats. Clearly this is revenge attacks and what makes it worse is he's playing politics with the nation's military. If Bush has his way the Northeast will vitually be devoid of military bases.

What about the Federal government's obligation to protect and defend the whole country including parts which didn't vote for Bush?

[Miss Chybil]

7. I left Germany in 1989 and they shut down a lot of bases shortly after. nt

[hippywife]

4. If I'm not mistaken

I believe it's around 130 bases in around 70 countries.

[EFerrari]

5. "without the schools and family housing "

This administration will end up being one of the most hated by the military.

[54anickel]

6. Part of the huge restructuring of the Army - biggest change since '39

This will hurt the local economies that they are pulling out of. The inverse being it will help the areas here that they'll be deployed to. I'm not even going to where a tinfoilhat would lead one on this move.


http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050727-3521.html

We're going to discuss today with you all what we consider to be a true cornerstone of Army transformation in the 21st century. I'm going to give you a little bit of a strategic background, strategic framework, if you will, and the vice is going to give you the details on the restationing plan for the Army's 43 Active Brigade Combat Teams. And then we'll take some of your questions.

It's important to note, though, that, why are we doing it now? Three very important strategic initiatives are converging at this time. You know all about them, but I want to knit them together because they provide the basis for this announcement today.

Number one, of course, is the Army modularity or modularization initiative that builds from 33 Brigade Combat Teams to 43, as well as standardizes the Army's Brigade Combat Teams into three types -- Stryker, light, and heavy.

Number two. You all have heard about Secretary Rumsfeld's Integrated Global Presence and Basing Strategy. So the second strategic initiative that's knit together in this restationing announcement are the initial stages of the return to the United States from overseas of Army units, some 50,000 soldiers; from Germany, 1st ID and 1st AD -- 1st Infantry Division, 1st Armored Division, and from Korea, the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division.

The third, of course, is BRAC, Base Realignment and Closure, which the secretary of Defense from this podium on Thursday the 12th, and Mike Wynne on Friday, May 13th, announced the secretary's recommendations.

snip>

Now the basing decisions for the additional 10 new brigades, these new formations, were influenced by the existing infrastructure that we had, to include training capacity. It was also influenced by the deployment opportunities or so-called deployment optimization -- that is to say proximity to railheads, airfields and seaports -- and of course the operational surge requirements, which we are living with today.

more...

[meganmonkey]

8. While it almost makes sense to rearrange things

like this, Bushco's motives are always shitty, and I concur with previous posters that the decisions about what to close are as much about economic punishment as they are military strategy.

[tsuki]

9. We have a bunch overseas.

Chalmers Johnson, a professor emeritus at the University of California at San Diego, writing in the Los Angeles Times, cited the Pentagon’s annual “Base Structure Report” for fiscal year 2003 to highlight that DOD claims to have over 700 military bases in over 130 countries (and another 6,000 military bases in the United States and its territories) with over 253,000 troops deployed abroad (but, that does not count DOD civilians, contractors, and locally-hired foreigners). He calculated the total number of DOD personnel stationed overseas to be in excess of 530,000, well more than double the Pentagon’s estimation. In fact, he believed the Pentagon’s calculations regarding overseas bases are also a gross underestimate because they fail to include installations in places such as Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. As an aside, he noted that: “Pentagon bureaucrats calculate that it would require at least $113.2 billion to replace just the foreign bases.”46

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/cc/schwalbe2.html