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Expansion project is transforming Grafenwöhr

Feb-14-2005 » Filed Under: General Military

There's been talk of a Stryker Brigade replacing the 1st Armored Division in Germany, but apparently a final decision won't be made until this spring.

Link to Full Article
By Ben Murray, Stars and Stripes

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — While some military communities around Europe contemplate their fate after the announcement of a $430 million military construction proposal for Europe in 2006, Army officials at the Grafenwöhr training area have a different concern.

As the home to the Army’s largest development project in Europe — a colossal $600 million to $700 million effort to transform an isolated training base into the region’s flagship installation — officials here wonder just how fast they can expand.

Around the base, cranes rise above half-finished buildings, workers toil around heaps of debris, and the din of construction competes with the sound of live artillery fire that is Grafenwöhr’s trademark.

The work is part of what is called Efficient Basing Grafenwöhr, or EBG, a 10-year project to enlarge the 1,200-soldier garrison into a brigade-size facility that base officials say will be home to the bulk of the Army’s presence in Europe. [...]

While it has been widely speculated that a light, mechanized Stryker Brigade will take the 1st AD’s place, Bartsch said official word on that decision isn’t expected until April or May.

EBG planners, however, said this week that it doesn’t really matter who eventually gets stationed at Grafenwöhr because the rebuilt base has been designed to facilitate almost any brigade-sized force in the Army.


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