Welcome to the Bavarian Millitary Community

18 Welcome to the U.S.Army Garrison Grafenwoehr. 1987 July - Soviet Forces withdraw from Afghani- stan. Civil war erupts among tribesmen and multiple rival factions seeking control of the country. 1988 The Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) is activated at Hohenfels. The CMTC mission is to provide realistic combined arms training for U.S. Army Europe, and Seventh Army’s maneuver battalion task forces in force-on-force exercises. 1989 November - Freedom Prevails: After weeks of civil unrest the East German government announces its citizens will be allowed to visit West Berlin, causing a fl ood of East Germans to the west, and bringing about the fall of the Berlin Wall, more than a quarter century after it was erected. 1990 January - Communist governments fall in Bul- garia, Czechoslovakia, and Romania, signaling the end of the Soviet empire in Europe. Latvia and Estonia declare independence five months later. January - “Centurion Shield”, the last REFORGER is hosted 60 miles west of Grafenwoehr. August - Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. The U.S. responds with Operation Desert Shield. Seventh Army Training Com- mand begins training units for deploy- ment. VII Corps deploys to the region in Nov. where it plays a key role in the “100 Hour War” that liberates Kuwait in February 1991. 1991 February - Operation Desert Storm begins. In one week, the U.S. led coalition pushes Iraqi forces out of Kuwait and across the border into Iraq, where the coali- tion halts 150 miles south of Baghdad. June - Yugoslavia begins to break apart. The Dayton Accords end the ethnic war, five years later, in December 1995. August - The Seventh U.S. Army Noncommis- sioned Officer Academy relocates and becomes a tenant unit of the GTA. December - Soviet Premier Gorbachev announces the break-up of the Soviet Union. 1992 U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) begins reducing forces in Germany, clos- ing facilities and communities. Area Support Teams in Amberg and Bind- lach are closed as part of the USA- REUR-wide draw down. 1993 NATO’s Allied Land Forces Central Europe becomes operational at U.S. Army Europe’s headquarters in Hei- delberg with a staff of seven nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. The troops of these armies become regular fixtures on the GTA ranges in years to come. History of the Grafenwoehr Training Area