Stop the European Drawdown?:

Pentagon leaders could be rethinking the massive drawdown US forces have undergone in Europe. According to Stars and Stripes, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, Joint Chiefs Chairman, told US troops and family members in Schweinfurt, Germany, last week that the planned growth of ground forces and ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq may have changed the European drawdown dynamics. It’s a question under consideration, he said. Since the end of the Cold War, US Air Forces in Europe has dropped from 25 bases to just five and reduced its aircraft from 850 to about 200. USAFE commander, Gen. Tom Hobbins, believes that the growth of NATO has offset his command’s cuts, but if the US Army plans to sustain a larger force in Europe, USAFE may have to reconsider its size.