Dropping The Military

From the Stars and Stripes:
"Pentagon lays out significant cuts to U.S. forces in Europe"

It’s official: The Germany-based 170th Infantry Brigade will be inactivated later this year, followed by the 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade next year as part of a broad restructuring of the military force structure in Europe that also calls for the inactivation of two U.S. Air Forces in Europe squadrons and the eventual elimination of the Army’s V Corps from Wiesbaden, Germany, according to Pentagon officials. As part of the restructuring, the Army garrisons in Schweinfurt and Bamberg will close no later than 2015, U.S. European Command announced. The 81st Fighter Squadron, an A-10 unit consisting of 525 airmen from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, and the 603rd Air Control Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy, consisting of 336 airmen, will be inactivated by 2013. Last month, the Defense Department announced it would be eliminating two heavy brigades in Europe, but that announcement stopped short of naming the specific units. Still, with only two such brigades in Europe, it was no secret that the 170th, based in Baumholder, and 172nd, out of Grafenwöhr and Schweinfurt, were pegged for elimination. In addition, U.S. Army Europe is slated to lose another 2,500 soldiers from small support units over the next five years, military officials said. For the Army, it all adds up to a 25 percent reduction in manpower in Europe. Currently, about 80,000 U.S. troops are based in Europe. The changes outlined by the Pentagon will reduce that number by more than 11,000.

^ This is a follow-up to what I already posted about this move. It is one thing to intelligently reduce troops and make sure they have some place to go, but from what I am reading now and from what I saw when I lived in Germany in the 1990s and Clinton did the same thing it isn't being done in a smart way. I don't know if it is because they are both Democrats and don't care or just aren't qualified because neither served in the military even though they are/were the Commander and Chief. ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/pentagon-lays-out-significant-cuts-to-u-s-forces-in-europe-1.168861