American Tanks leaving Europe

This is a bittersweet moment for me..I remembered going to Graf or Hohenfels in the 1980's then seeing the tanks in action during the first Gulf War and seeing what they did to the Iraqi Army.  I remembered seeing the M60 then the M-1 tanks do gunnery.  There is something about a tank,  Despite the advances of antitank weapons, nothing stops a tank like another tank.  I remembered another place that needed tanks and we had none due to political considerations and that was Somalia.  Remember Black Hawk Down...We were told that if we needed tank support, the allies would provide it.  Well the Indians and Pakistani's that had tanks/APC's  stayed in garrison and would not ride out to assist.  That is why we had to use HUMMV's and 5 ton trucks to get the soldiers out. 

US Army's last tanks depart from Germany

German railway loadmasters with the Theater Logistics Support Center Europe help load an Abrams main battle tank at the railhead in Kaisersalutern. The tank was one of 22 bound for South Carolina, marking the end of an Army tank presence in Germany.
Alexander Burnett/U.S. Army

By John Vandiver

Stars and Stripes

Published: April 4, 2013

Related

• For Baumholder’s 170th Brigade, a low-key goodbye
• Army's 172nd sorting, clearing gear as inactivation begins

U.S. Army soldiers of Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion 66th Armor Regiment, Task Force 1-2, 172nd Infantry Brigade conduct a live fire training exercise using M1 Abrams tanks at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany in this Oct. 2010 photo.

Markus Rauchenberger/U.S. Army

U.S. Army soldiers of Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion 66th Armor Regiment, Task Force 1-2, 172nd Infantry Brigade conduct a live fire training exercise with M1 Abrams tanks at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany in this Oct. 2010 photo.

Markus Rauchenberger/U.S. Army

STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. Army’s 69-year history of basing main battle tanks on German soil quietly ended last month when 22 Abrams tanks, a main feature of armored combat units throughout the Cold War, embarked for the U.S.

The departure of the last M-1 Abrams tanks coincides with the inactivation of two of the Army’s Germany-based heavy brigades. Last year, the 170th Infantry out of Baumholder disbanded. And the 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade at Grafenwöhr is in the process of doing the same.

On March 18, the remaining tanks were loaded up at the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s railhead in Kaiserslautern where they then made the journey to the shipping port in Bremerhaven, Germany. There they boarded a ship bound for South Carolina.

The tanks belonged to the 172nd along with a mix that were leftover from other units, according to the 21st TSC.

“It is an honor to be one of the soldiers escorting the last battle tanks out of Germany,” said Sgt. Jeremy Jordan of the 529th Military Police Company, in an Army story about the journey. “As these tanks sail back to the U.S., we are closing a chapter in history.”

From World War II on through the Cold War, tanker units were a heavy presence in Germany. At its peak, Germany was home to 20 NATO armored divisions, or about 6,000 tanks, according to the 21st TSC.

“There is no [U.S.] tank on German soil. It’s a historic moment,” said Lt. Col. Wayne Marotto, 21st TSC spokesman.