Rotational forces: New way of doing business in Europe

The ranges in Bulgaria are now empty, but when U.S. forces rotate through later this year to work with allies, those vacant training grounds will be transformed.

“When we show up this summer, we’ll have the targets for them,” said Will Alston, chief of the Regional Training Support Division-Expeditionary team in Grafenwöhr, Germany. “We’ve got it down to a science now.”

The expertise of these six-to-eight man teams will be crucial as the Army begins a system of rotating soldiers in from the United States, to replace the two Europe-based brigades that are being drawn down as part of the Pentagon’s budget cuts.

For the military, reorganizing the force structure in Europe will mean a new way of doing business for some U.S.-based troops while maintaining Europe-based support units that make rotational training possible. It also will pose challenges for commanders, who will have to do more with less and find new ways to use rotational forces to accomplish the mission. Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers can likely expect fewer two- and three-year assignments in Germany.