Auf wiedersehen, Uncle Sam

Date: 21/04/05

In August of last year, US President George W. Bush voiced what had previously only been debated by defence specialists, mentioned in specialised reports and discussed between soldiers having a drink at the local pub: US military forces would almost certainly withdraw from Western Europe.

Of the 100,000 men currently present, 45,000 will soon be on their way home - and with them their heavy machinery.

Today, a significant part of the American military infrastructure does not serve its primary purpose. The Cold War is over and crises have flared up elsewhere. Sixty years after the Americans shed blood for a free Europe, the time has come for yet another farewell.

For the last few weeks, the most frequent word at the Patch Barracks - the US European Command HQ (EUCOM) in Stuttgart - has been 'transformation'.

"At the end of the Cold War, we suddenly had 350,000 soldiers who were not needed anymore," explains Colonel Bruce Rember, air force chief of the strategic department at EUCOM.

"Up to now, we have reduced the number of soldiers to 112,000, but we did not have any vision about the future. Only last year saw the final decision on the transformation that we talk about today. "

According to the plans made in the Stuttgart headquarters, 45,000 soldiers will leave Europe - together with the heavy artillery. Many of the bases will be closed down.

Out of 100 bases, the Americans will keep 14 of the biggest and most important ones such as the Grafenwöhr training area and the US Navy headquarters in Naples.

"Besides that, we plan on establishing a new type of base comprising 17 small operative centres," explains Rember.

"There will be a small number of American troops in these stand-by bases. They will be activated when need arises."

The third type of base planned by EUCOM will function as a part of the local military base network in the host countries.

By that, Stuttgart means Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey and a few stable countries in Africa. The slack around the Middle East will be tightened.

But there is also a feeling of discomfort spreading around Germany. The great monuments of America's presence, like the Rhein-Main military airfield, also called the 'Gateway to Europe', or the huge military base in Giessen are not the only things that will disappear. For some of the small towns hosting US military bases, times will get especially tough.

The situation in Baumholder, in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz, is typical: the town has turned into 'das kleine Amerika' during the 60 years of American presence.

It has grown by it and it will die by it. "We are one of a kind: we have no Turks, no Albanians, no Africans, but we have Americans. A lot of Americans," says one Baumholdner local.

In the café next to the base, rumours are spreading like wildfire. "If the base is really closed down, it will be a catastrophe for the town," says civil servant Jörg Franzmann shaking his head while drinking a cup of tea. From the large windows, there is a fine view of the men in camouflage uniforms walking up and down the street. In a town with 13,000 Americans and 4,500 Germans, which gets at least $70 million (53.8m euro) from the US every year, the green bank notes are always more powerful than the colourful euros.

"Baumholder would turn into a ghost town," says Franzmann. "But nothing is certain yet. Rumours are that America will close down the bases in revenge for Germany not supporting the war in Iraq. The politicians, of course, do not say it out loud, but this kind of retaliation is possible."

At the Stuttgart headquarters, nobody wants to talk about the Baumholder case, although it is perfectly clear that the town will have great problems because of the oncoming transformation.

"5,400 jobs are at risk, not only the workers in the base, but also artisans, merchants, hairdressers, workers in the food industry, electricians and plumbers.

"After the war, the Americans came to us by themselves, it just happened. We welcomed them, we tolerated the noise of the tanks and the constant firing. Now they will let us down," says Peter Lang, Baumholder's mayor.

Nobody wants to predict when the Americans will leave, and how many - if any - will stay. But the Germans do not foster any vain hopes. The historical friendship is shrinking fast.

• Manca Juvan is a freelance photographer based in Brussels and Ljubljana, Slovenia. Uros Skerl is a freelance journalist based in Ljubljana.

Analysis feature on the announced withdrawal of US troops from Western Europe.