It’s been in the works for some time now.
The United States will close nearly half of its hundreds of installations in Europe as part of the massive restructuring plan, three senior defense officials and a State Department official told Pentagon reporters on condition of anonymity.It’s a good idea (World War III is over), but I feel a bit sorry for future GIs who will never know the pleasure of being stationed in Germany.
It will be a gradual reduction and there will still be American troops stationed in Deutschland, just not so many.
Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said Monday the 1st Armored Division and 1st Infantry Division probably won't start leaving their bases in Germany until 2006 at the earliest. They will be replaced by a brigade — a much smaller unit — equipped with Stryker armored vehicles, which are much lighter and quicker than the M1A1 Abrams tanks used by the divisions they will replace.
Though it's tempting to opine that the US should let the Germans (and the French) swing in case of any new conflict that may arise--come on, it's Europe--I think that keeping a token presence on the continent serves our interests more that a bit of revenge might.
