From the DW:
“US military in Germany: What you
need to know”
A decision to move US troops out
of Germany would mark a major change in the defense relationship between the
two countries and reshape the basis of American military presence in Europe
since WWII. The Federal Republic of
Germany has been a vital part of United States defense strategy in Europe ever
since the end of World War II, when US forces were part of a 10-year Allied
occupation of the country. Though troop numbers have fallen drastically since
those days, the US military still maintains a major presence and over the
intervening decades, US military communities have formed around a handful of
German towns. Germany's strategic importance for the US is reflected by the
location of US European Command (EUCOM) headquarters in the southewestern city
of Stuttgart, from which it serves as the coordinating structure for all
American military forces across 51 primarily European countries. The mission of
EUCOM is to protect and defend the US by deterring conflict, supporting
partnerships such as NATO, and countering transnational threats. At its command
are the US Army Europe, the US Air Forces in Europe, and the US Marine Corps
Forces Europe, all of which have installations in Germany. In fact, Germany hosts the largest portion of
US troops in Europe — roughly 38,600, though the numbers vary as troops are
regularly rotated to other countries. This is also more military personnel than
the US keeps in any other country except Japan. However, the numbers have
fallen in recent years. German government figures show that between 2006 and
2018, the number of US troops stationed in Germany more than halved, from
72,400 to 33,250, as the US military responded to a shifting and increasingly
complex global security situation.
Marines, soldiers and airmen
Germany is home to five of the
seven US Army garrisons in Europe (the other two are in Belgium and Italy), and
the US Army Europe is headquartered at the garrison in Wiesbaden, a city close
to Frankfurt in central western Germany. Figures provided to DW by the US military show
that these five garrisons, each consisting of various installations at
different locations, currently comprise around 29,000 military personnel. This
number includes the US Marine Corps Forces of Europe and Africa, which are
headquartered in Böblingen, southwestern Germany, as part of the US Army
Garrison Stuttgart. In addition, roughly 9,600 US Air Force personnel are
spread across various locations in Germany, including the two US Air Force
bases of Ramstein and Spangdahlem.
US military in Germany: More than
troops
Because US military installations
also employ American civilians, and servicemen and women can sometimes bring
their families with them overseas, sizable civilian communities can form around
bases. In fact, some US bases in Germany, such as the one near Ramstein, are
small towns in and of themselves. They include not only barracks, airfields,
exercise terrain, and material depots, but also their own American shopping
malls, schools, postal services, and police force. Sometimes the only legal
tender is the US dollar. Bases also often employ significant numbers of local
nationals and serve as an economic boost for the surrounding German communities,
whose businesses provide goods and services. Past installation closures, such
as the army garrison at Bamberg in 2014, took a toll on the local economy, and
many Germans living near active US military installations have expressed
opposition to potential troop reductions. The training area at Grafenwoehr in
Bavaria is one of the US army's largest in Europe But the extent of US military
presence in Germany is not limited to personnel: The US also keeps planes at
other non-US air force bases in Germany. Additionally, thanks to NATO's nuclear
sharing arrangement, an estimated 20 nuclear weapons are believed to be kept at
Germany's Büchel Air Base in western Germany — something which has attracted
much criticism from Germans. Another contentious arrangement is the fact that
the Ramstein Air Base is used as a control center for drone strikes in Yemen
and elsewhere.
Allied postwar occupation and its
legacy
The US military presence in
Germany is a legacy of the post-WWII Allied occupation, which lasted from 1945
to 1955. During this time, millions of US, British, French and Soviet troops
were stationed in Germany. The northeastern part of the country, which
officially became East Germany in October 1949, fell under Soviet control. In West Germany, the occupation was regulated
by the Occupation Statute, signed in April 1949, when the country was founded.
The statute allowed France, the UK and the US to keep occupational forces in
the country and maintain complete control over West Germany's disarmament and
demilitarization. When the military occupation of West Germany officially
ended, the country regained control of its own defense policy. However, the
Occupation Statute was succeeded by another agreement with its NATO partners.
This deal, known as the Convention on the Presence of Foreign Forces in the
Federal Republic of Germany, was signed in 1954 by West Germany. It allowed
eight NATO members, including the US, to have a permanent military presence in
Germany. The treaty still regulates the terms and conditions of the NATO troops
stationed in Germany today. The number of US military personnel has been
declining ever since the end of the Cold War in 1990, when, according to the
German government, there were an estimated 400,000 foreign troops stationed on
German soil. Roughly half of these were US military personnel, but they were
gradually withdrawn as tensions with what was left of the Soviet Union eased,
and conflicts elsewhere, such as the first Gulf War in Iraq, drew more US
military away.
^ Germany definitely needs to do
more to support NATO. The Germans themselves have admitted that the German Military
is under-staffed, under-equipped and under-trained and so they need the
Americans to step in when they (the Germans) can’t. I am a military brat and
lived in West Germany and in Germany on different bases and know what it is
like firsthand. If the Germans do not want to fulfill their commitment to NATO
(financial or otherwise) than the US should move to Poland or any other NATO
country that is willing to. The Germans tend to complain about the US Military
still being in Germany and yet the Germans can’t protect themselves (they can’t
even get working planes for their Government officials.) It’s time that Germany
and other NATO countries realize the role the US plays in protecting them and
if those countries aren’t willing to contribute something then they should be
left high and dry by the US. ^
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