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| March 23, 2013 - One of the last Abrams remained in Germany is loaded aboard a train.Photo by Staff Sgt Alexander Burnett, 21st TSC Public Affairs. |
Old Army Warhorses will tell you that in case of trouble in Europe or the Middle East, it'll take even longer to get heavy forces to the trouble spot.
Even older Warhorses will tell you stories of training outside of Stuttgart, Mannheim and on the plains of Germany....a few of the guys from the 11th ACR (if I remember my units correctly) can even tell you about cross border incidents with the East Germans...stories you won't find in the history books.
I said all that to say that the last US Army Abrams Main Battle Tank has left the European building.
It really is the end of an era.
Damn, I was hoping to get deployed to Germany and get a nice German girl :(
ReplyDeleteyou better learn to speak a little Korean or hope that the Army gets to Australia...otherwise you're outta luck. sounds like the only deployments Army Tankers will get will be to Benning, NTC and S. Korea. that will be a dull enlistment...better pick up rank fast so you can do a B billet.
DeleteYea well, those southern girls are still pretty hot. Sure as hell aint getting a juicy from Chonger land. I wish they would bring tanks to ft. Lewis, I know they got a stryker brigade up there.
DeleteSol, are you for or against a large scale US withdrawal from the European area especially with the likely reductions in the military? As your doubtless aware facilities remain across Europe that could or should be shutdown and transferred back into CONUS something that many would prefer.
ReplyDeletePersonally as a Brit i think it should happen largely because if European countries refuse to support their own armed forces why should they get any benefit from the US military presence. At the end of the day all the US military should need in Europe is agreements for use of allied base facilities alongside routine training with allies. The units available from a withdrawal could then either be relocated around the CONUS doubtless with public support or included as part of the military reductions.
I'm of mixed opinion. Allies like the UK and Poland and Georgia and Romania have supported us whole hog (as have some other countries I can't recall at this time...oh the Netherlands) for the good guys I think we should let them decide. if they want us gone then off we go. if they want us to stay then we do.
Deletefor those like Germany. its not up for debate. off we go. but the flip side to us leaving Europe is that it will be hell to pay for us to go back in. i fight a serious America first and fuck the world attitude personally and its spread to MANY others. the US is tired and ready to build up our own country instead of spending money in others. what happens if we're gone and the Balkans flares up? will Europe be able to handle it? i have my doubts if Libya was a big lift but we'll see. Obama will make it happen...especially with Hagel as his defense chief.
I take the same fuck the world attitude when it comes to what if the Balkans Libya or Mali etc flares up if we want something done about it then it’s on us. Equally if we can’t keep our own backyard in order then there is something majorly wrong with the entirety of Europe even if that’s only political will. If anything in future it will be the Russians improving relations with Europe in order to reposition their forces along the border with the dragon to the south eyeing up vast Russian resources.
DeleteIn some sense I’m not advocating a total withdrawal a strong case could be made for retaining an air base and naval facility to ease movement and access to Europe. Even with current redeployment there are still going to be 70,000ish US military personnel deployed in Europe sadly around the same size as the future British Army.
Edit: Sorry failed to use the reply button.
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