European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 18, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June stars and stripes Page 3 above the military buildup in Europe in the Early 1950s brought dependents into the equation for the first some arrived by others arrived by such As these passengers at Rhein main air base in August below air Force pilots on temporary duty and whee Lus air base personnel unwind at Beach in v military makeover in Europe stars and stripes file photos families would Factor Large into the shaping of the military presence in sometimes it carried Over to the next in this december 1951 15yearold Ted Rees and his get their bearings after arriving in the boys a Rose to the rank of major Ted Rees also joined the air retiring As a lieutenant general in 1992 after a stint As vice commander of air forces in military looks beyond Rich history five years the defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent marching orders to Marine James l telling him that the european command needed an overhaul to meet the unique challenges of the 21st i Jones started in called for the moving of thou Sands of troops from Europe Back to the United mov ing troops into Eastern Europe and setting up Forward operating Sites in but Jones successor army Bantz Craddock is questioning whether pulling troops out of Europe during this time of War is a prudent stars and stripes reviews the status of the military transformation in Europe in a series of stories that look at the present and Day 1 Neucom leaders address transformation issues today a look at troop strength through the years Day 3 How the military closes its bases Day 4 stateside bases get ready for influx of troops pay 5 air Navy also getting new look Day 6 the Impact of politics on transformation by Kevin Dougherty stars and stripes the first wave of soldiers arrived by boat wearing Wool uni leather gaiters and the steel world War i then we pulled up to the and we just started Chuck Leighton recalled in Home away from a Book on forces in Northern Ireland during world War h several of us just got in line and walked off the gang not knowing that we were the first troops that actually were on the As history would have they were among the first in another Long for More than 65 the has had troops based in millions of in that pres ence wont end anytime but the military in Europe is at a in for the first time since Leighton and his Battle buddies troop strength on the continent fell below the drop is indicative of a Post cold War Effort to restructure the a Campaign that stretches Back to the Early when there were More than troops in by the number of troops in Europe is scheduled to drop to As part of the current re structuring initiative popularly known As the plan also Calls for cutting civilian shutting Down scores of installations and reconfiguring and repositioning dozens of such adjustments Are nothing Over the troop Levels in Europe have fluctuated in response to world events and tic and theater As was the Case in 1966 when a policy shift by French president Charles de wars Force by Charlie Coon stars and stripes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Are slowing and per haps muddling the Mili Tarys plans to draw Down in analysts Ever since the ousting of Saddam Hussein evolved into a hard the Penta gon has been too Busy assess ing the War to ride Herd on the ongoing relocation of Europe based soldiers to the its All All the said James senior re search fellow at the washing to based heritage found a conservative think was on the table its kind of continuing on its own but has been slowed theres not been a Funda lets Stop and rethink that is army Bantz Crad commander of the european told con Gress in March that he or dered his staff to reassess Why the was closing Many of its remaining cold War bases Gaulle led to the withdraw of All forces from some times the changes or the threat of changes were driven by As when the Jack so Nunn amendment of 1974 threatened to Cut forces in Europe if allies didst share More of the often adjustments were driven by the particularly by the soviet see history on Page 4 Iii to rethink Basing in Germany and moving those soldiers Back to the the theater transformation which we began in was postulated on some assumptions that we made Craddock and in the intervening Al most five years there has been changes in the geopolitical Craddock did not elaborate on the but Jere my a fellow at the Brookings an inde pendent research and policy Institute in speculated on a few that the army would be come smaller Over in the is planning to grow its Active duty army Ros Ter from soldiers to in the next five the total number of marines would Rise from to the additional troops would need to be based see Basing on Page 4 troops in Europe troops stationed in Europe and Mediterranean 1950 to present excluding some afloat r buildup to soviet threat troop rotations to Vietnam instead of Europe Post cold War troop reduction resume troop rotations to Europe source european command history office stars and stripes