Thousands of US soldiers to leave Germany

American Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta said two of the four combat brigades currently in Europe would be moved. That is between 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers in total.

As three of those four brigades are in Germany, several thousand US soldiers stationed here are bound to be packing their bags soon. The third brigade is in Italy. Panetta said other units would be moved and out of Europe on a rotational basis.

Panetta played down the effect of the withdrawal on European communities by saying that many combat troops had been sent to Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years anyway.

In a written statement, Lt. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, who is the Army’s commanding general in Europe said he could not release details.

“Until those plans mature and are formally approved, we can provide no further information regarding specific units or communities involved, or the methods of rotating units,” he said.

But the US military’s Stars and Stripes newspaper said that previous discussion about troop withdrawal from Germany had focused on Army troops stationed in Grafenwöhr, Bavaria and Baumholder, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Approximately 41,000 US Army personnel are currently based in Europe, with the majority in Germany. There are about 80,000 US military personnel, including the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps members in Europe

US authorities have been steadily reducing their European forces since the end of the Cold War, when more than 200,000 US military personnel were stationed on the continent.

The British government has also announced a withdrawal of its own, with half of the country’s 20,000 Germany-based troops returning home by 2015 and the rest leaving by 2020.
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120113-40099.html

As the economic system collapse , eventually all the colonial troops will return home . The exercise is too expensive and the troops are needed back at home to keep under control the huge pool of unemployed and people on food stamps .

Lets just hope thet aren't being moved to the gulf, Afganistan in particular for a spring invasion of Iran, which could be a bit awkward as they have got 2500 tanks & armoured whatnots stuck in Pakistan.

They would undoubtably use the same 'blitzkreig' tactics used in Iraq, head straight for the capital, and the only practical route for an armoured assault is from Afganistan.

It says in the article that they have to focus on the Middle East and Asia.

I think we are all aware that any type of major conflict with Iran is completely idiotic given that both Russia and China support Iran. So what does the US do?

Pull back would be the logical solution given that Iran is and never was the enemy other then in the criminal corrupt Bush Cabal minds who still want to steal the middle east's oil (along with who knows what else) before dipping into US oil reserves which are larger then all of the middle east combined.

I for one am so sick of all of this posturing. Those troops belong home on our own Mexican boarders and where the money is spent in our own country bolstering the US economy rather then spent in other foreign nations. The US needs to get out of being the "world police" role - which we all know was just a cover for their own gain (big business and who profits from all the money spent on wars).

We could use our troops to help rebuild the US infrastructure and get out of the mentality that other nations can't take care of themselves.