The military is reconsidering its plan to withdraw troops from Europe in light of troop requirements for both Africa and Europe:
As part of a militarywide transformation that began taking shape in 2002, plans were announced that would reduce the U.S. Army’s troop strength in Europe from 62,000 soldiers to 24,000 by around the year 2010.
Since then, the number of soldiers has been reduced to about 44,000, notably including the 2006 departure to the U.S. of most of the Würzburg, Germany-based 1st Infantry Division.
The Navy and Air Force have been making similar restructurings in Europe.
Craddock told Congress in the spring that under current transformation plans, he was concerned there might not be enough Europe-based troops for EUCOM to carry out its missions, primarily its European and African theater security cooperation efforts with nations in those regions. Those efforts include military-to-military training and regional coordination exercises.
Among the factors affecting those efforts was the ongoing rotation of Europe-based forces to Iraq and Afghanistan, Craddock said.
Putin's Russia is pining for glory days when Moscow was feared, we fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we deploy units in the Balkans still, missile defenses will keep us tied to Europe, and AFRICOM will need support.
Add to the mix the plans to expand the Army which will stress our ability to base our units in the continental United States even without adding existing units from Europe to the US.
History hasn't ended in Europe. The Army must not leave Europe.
