Welcome to the Bavarian Millitary Community2021/2022

18 Welcome to the U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr. 1984/85 The first M1A1 Tanks arrive for trials at Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels. 1985 August Major upgrades are completed at Grafenwoehr facilities, and the ranges are renumbered. SIMNET, a wide area network with vehicle simulators and displays for real-time distributed com­ bat simulation is released for testing in 1985, by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. SIMNET is subsequently fielded in 1987, and was used for training until successor pro­ grams came online in the 1990s. 1986 April The nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union melts-down and explodes releasing a cloud of radioactivity into the atmosphere over Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. 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 flood of East Germans to the west, and bring­ ing 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. “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, closing facilities and communities. Area Sup­ port Teams in Amberg and Bindlach are closed as part of the USAREUR-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. September In an unusual statistical milestone, for the first time in U.S. history, Army retirees outnumber active-duty person­ nel because of radical downsizing of the U.S. Army. History of the Grafenwoehr Training Area