S&S - Germany housing shortage stalls moving plan

A recent press clipping:

Stars and Stripes

Germany housing shortage stalls moving plan

By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Monday, April 26, 2010

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Plans to consolidate the 172nd Infantry Brigade in Grafenwöhr, Germany, will stay on hold pending a decision expected late this year on whether to keep four U.S. Army brigade combat teams in Europe.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Housing shortages at Grafenwöhr — home to the 172nd’s headquarters and many of its troops — have forced U.S. Army Europe to postpone the movement of three of the brigade’s battalions from Schweinfurt this summer.

The 172nd and the Baumholder, Germany-based 170th Infantry Brigade were slated to return to the U.S. in 2012. But in February the Department of Defense’s Quadrennial Defense Review backed retention of the brigades in Europe pending a review of NATO’s Strategic Concept and an accompanying assessment of its European defense posture network."

&

"Other units that were slated to swap places with the 172nd in Schweinfurt — comprising almost 750 soldiers and about 1,120 family members — will stay in Grafenwöhr for now. These include the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 23rd Ordnance Company, 574th Supply Company, 5th Maintenance Company, 1st Cargo Transportation Company, and the 71st Preventive Medicine Detachment, Henderson said.

If the Defense Department decides to retain the four combat brigades, approximately 40,000 soldiers will remain in Europe, facilities in Schweinfurt and Bamberg will stay open, and USAREUR will proceed with the 172nd consolidation at Grafenwöhr, she said.

However, it might take two years to identify developers and build homes for the 172nd soldiers.
That would require 300 more leased housing units and another 100 existing private rentals, Henderson said."

S&S - Grafenwöhr to honor fallen soldier

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes


Grafenwöhr to honor fallen soldier


European edition, Saturday, April 11, 2009


GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — A memorial will be held Tuesday for a 172nd Infantry "Blackhawks" Brigade soldier who was killed in action in Iraq.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Spc. Israel Candelaria Mejias, 28, of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, died of wounds sustained when a mine detonated near him Sunday during combat operations, according to a Department of Defense press statement Wednesday.

Mejias was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment in Task Force 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, out of Grafenwöhr, the statement said."

S&S - Some Grafenwöhr units will have to move. Relocation of Army support units makes way for four infantry battalions.

Stars and Stripes



Some Grafenwöhr units will have to move


Relocation of Army support units makes way for four infantry battalions


By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Friday, April 25, 2009

Seth Robson / S&S
Because a planned 300-unit housing area for soldiers and their families in this village of Hütten, near Grafenwöhr, was put on hold, several Army support units will move from Grafenwöhr to other bases in Germany. The move was meant to make way for four Schweinfurt-based infantry battalions.

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — The scrapping of a 300-home off-post military housing project and the impending arrival of four Schweinfurt-based infantry battalions means several Army support units currently based at Grafenwöhr will have to move to other bases in Germany.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"On Thursday, U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwöhr commander Col. Nils "Chris" Sorenson told a gathering of leaders from German communities surrounding the base about plans to move the battalions to Grafenwöhr next year, after the 172nd Infantry Brigade returns from its yearlong mission to Iraq.

The movement of the battalions, at a time when there is a critical housing shortage at Grafenwöhr, "means some of our small enabling units will go elsewhere," he said. He identified one of the units on the move as the 12th Chemical Company, which is headed to Schweinfurt."

&

"The 172nd Infantry Brigade Headquarters and two battalions assigned to the brigade moved to Grafenwöhr last summer while the brigade’s four other battalions are due to join them next spring, he said.

Many of the additional soldiers and their families were to have moved into a 300-home off-post leased housing area in the nearby town of Hütten, he said. However, that project has been on hold since the German investor in the project — PPREF — declared bankruptcy late last year."