Exercise Reforger
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Exercise Reforger (from return of forces to Germany) was an annual exercise conducted, during the Cold War, by NATO. The exercise was intended to ensure that NATO had the ability to quickly deploy forces to West Germany in the event of a conflict with the Soviet Union.
The Reforger exercise itself was first conceived in 1967. The Johnson administration announced plans to withdraw approximately two divisions from Europe during 1968. As a demonstration of its continuing commitment to the defense of NATO and to illustrate its capability of rapid reinforcement, a large scale force deployment was planned that would deploy a division or more to West Germany in a regular annual exercise. The first such exercise was conducted beginning on 6 January 1969. These exercises continued annually past the end of the Cold War, except for the years 1989, until 1993. Reforger 1988 was billed as the largest European ground maneuver since the end of World War II as 125,000 troops were deployed.[1]
Reforger was not merely a show of force—in the event of a conflict, it would be the actual plan to strengthen the NATO presence in Europe. In that instance, it would have been referred to as Operation Reforger. Important components in Reforger included the Military Airlift Command, the Military Sealift Command, and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet.
The US Army also increased its rapid-reinforcement capability by prepositioning huge stocks of equipment and supplies in Europe at POMCUS sites. The maintenance of this equipment has provided extensive on-the-job training to reserve-component support units.
Operation Bright Star, the annual deployment of American army and Air Force units to Egypt serves much the same purpose as Reforger did.
[edit] Reforger Exercises
| Name | Start Date | Major Units |
|---|---|---|
| Reforger I | JAN 1969 | |
| Reforger II | ||
| Reforger III | ||
| Reforger IV | ||
| Reforger V | SEP 1973 | |
| Reforger 74 | SEP 1974 | |
| Reforger 75 | SEP 1975 | |
| Reforger 76 | SEP 1976 | |
| Reforger 77 | SEP 1977 | |
| Reforger 78 | SEP 1978 | |
| Reforger 79 | JAN 1979 | |
| Reforger 80 | SEP 1980 | |
| Reforger 81 | SEP 1981 | |
| Reforger 82 | SEP 1982 | |
| Reforger 83 | SEP 1983 | 1st Cavalry Division |
| Reforger 84 | SEP 1984 | |
| Reforger 85 | JAN 1985 | |
| Reforger 86 | JAN 1986 | |
| Reforger 87 | SEP 1987 | |
| Reforger 88 | SEP 1988 | |
| Reforger 90 | ||
| Reforger 91 | September 1991 | 4th Infantry Division |
| Reforger 92 | ||
| Reforger93 |
[edit] External links
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- ^ The Stars and Stripes, Vol. 47, No. 147, Sept. 12, 1988
