HOHENFILS, Germany – Captain Matthew Likes pierced the mist as he prepared to fend off a fierce but simulated attack on the edge of remote woodland.
When Mock Assault arrived – a real Apache helicopter, hovering over hills and a real tank hovering over a hill – a team of likes, dressed like Russian “little green men” who appeared in Crimea in 2014, with a mere 50-caliber round Reacted.
In a state of conflict with a country like Russia, whose military capabilities – in a state of conflict with a country like Russia, this multinational exercise involving 4,100 troops in 10 days, the American commander and his allies were expected to rehearse the “peer-to-peer” war. Match with the United States.
Several current and former U.S. officials told NBC News that the 20,000-acre territory in southern Germany is currently the only possible location for such extensive international training, with troops from countries such as Ukraine, Slovenia, Romania and Italy currently participating. U.S. The military has invested millions of dollars over several decades in expanded facilities – one of many reasons why many retired military commanders, former national security advisers and legislators from both parties have questioned the Trump administration’s plans to relocate 12,000 troops. Germany.
The landscape in southern Germany roughly coincides with the rolling, mild jungle mountains of eastern Ukraine, where most of the 200 Ukrainian soldiers who took part in the exercise fought Russian-backed separatists as in earlier June.
Selected, 29, said the purpose was to recreate the threats that American and allied forces could face in the most advanced way possible.
“Whether it’s an information war, whether it’s mercenary groups, it’s a bomb blast – we can do anything to mimic what’s happening in the world right now, especially here in Germany,” he said.
Former Vice President George W. Biden said in his campaign that if elected, he would cancel the planned withdrawal. And officials on both sides of the Atlantic said the U.S. The future role and scope of the military could be one of the biggest foreign policy decisions to capture in the November presidential election.
At the September hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, the U.S. government in Europe met between 2014 and 2017. Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, commander of the Army, appeared by video conference to say that the Pentagon plans to withdraw more than 12,000 troops and air officials. There was a “mistake” from Germany.
The next day, he told NBC News in Frankfurt that Germany was “America’s most important ally.” He said the U.S. The “political decision” to reduce forces by a third would send a “terrible signal” to Russia, which still occupies parts of the Crimean peninsula of Georgia and Ukraine, and continues its aggressive behavior on the eastern edge of Europe.
Ranking Republican of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. McThroneberry said the Trump administration should not ignore the role of troops in Germany in training NATO allies. But he also said that a large contingent of U.S. Air Force, and forces including many regional command headquarters – support forward transfers for troops heading to the Middle East and Africa, and act as a deterrent against Russian threats.
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Retired Adam. James Stewardis, NATO’s top ally commander from 2009 to 2013 and now NBC News’ international security analyst, agreed, saying he was concerned about the withdrawal because “there is no strategic outline, no principle of the case.”
“I don’t see this as a bargain,” he said. “I think there’s a very significant possibility that this will definitely be done by the Biden administration,” and that Pentagon officials will also mean Trump’s second term will “take a look at this as well.”
Tony Blink, Biden’s senior foreign policy adviser to the presidential campaign, said in a written statement that the decision to withdraw troops from Germany was “ignorant and irresponsible, and that if Biden is elected next month,” he would review the decision, coordinating with our NATO allies. ”
Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell said the changes in pressure levels in Germany were “made to increase certainty in the face of Russia and other deadly actors, to strengthen NATO, to reassure allies, to improve U.S. strategic flexibility and operational flexibility.” , And take care of our service members and their families. “
But he also echoed Defense Secretary Mark Asper, who acknowledged in July that the plan “would likely change somewhat over time.”
The Commander-in-Chief oversees the Pentagon’s revelations at the time. Outside the White House in late July, Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about the withdrawal of troops from Germany that “we are no longer going to succeed.” He added, “We’re reducing the force because they don’t pay their bills. It’s too easy.”
NATO nations do not pay “bills” to join the alliance, but each member state pledged in 2014 to ensure that their spending on defense programs reaches at least 2 percent of their national gross domestic product.
Jર્ગrgen Harde, a foreign affairs spokeswoman for the Christian Democratic Union, a political party affiliated with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said in light of the Trump administration’s argument that Germany was being punished for not spending enough on its defense. Many troops are preparing to join NATO members in Italy and Belgium, both of which spend small amounts of their GDP in their armies rather than Germany.
He said the “election campaign in the US” was “the main driver for the decision” rather than the fact.
Another German lawmaker and Secretary of State for Defense, Thomas Silberhorn, who traveled to Washington in July to discuss plans to withdraw with members of Congress and the Trump administration, called the US military presence behind NATO’s common security as an ally. But he agreed that the decision was made primarily to influence American voters, and said he expects to re-evaluate the move in the future.
“I don’t expect this decision to be reversed,” said Silverhorn, who, like many others, highlighted the potential billions of dollars in associated costs. “But when it comes to details, the questions get harder and harder.”
For American troops stationed here, the answers seem simple. Germany is close to the current conflict zone, and the bases here provide the opportunity for months of training with many military partners that are quite unique.
“In the states, we don’t get any of that,” said Liech, an infantry officer, referring to training with partner countries, such as Ukraine. “But here, we have that whole extra element, which makes the whole thing – I think – a lot better.”
