Exercise Reforger was an annual exercise conducted, during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, 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 Warsaw Pact

Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...

.

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 year 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.

Reforger was not merely a show of force

Show of force

Show of force is a military term for an operation intended to warn or intimidate an opponent and to showcase one's own capability or will to act if provoked...

—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

Military Airlift Command

The Military Airlift Command is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command of the USAF which was headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. It was constituted on 1 January 1966 and active until the end of the Cold War, when the Air Force table of organization was revised...

, the Military Sealift Command

Military Sealift Command

The Military Sealift Command is a United States Navy organization that controls most of the replenishment and military transport ships of the Navy. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's...

, and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet

Civil Reserve Air Fleet

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet is part of the United States's mobility resources. Selected aircraft from U.S. airlines, contractually committed to Civil Reserve Air Fleet, support United States Department of Defense airlift requirements in emergencies when the need for airlift exceeds the capability...

.

The US Army also increased its rapid-reinforcement capability by prepositioning huge stocks of equipment and supplies in Europe at POMCUS

POMCUS

POMCUS is a military acronym for "Prepositioning Of Material Configured in Unit Sets".The POMCUS system kept large amounts of pre-positioned equipment in West Germany in defense of the West against the Communist threat during the Cold War...

 sites. The maintenance of this equipment has provided extensive on-the-job training to reserve-component support units.

Operation Bright Star

Operation Bright Star

Operation Bright Star is a series of biennial combined and joint training exercises led by American and Egyptian forces in Egypt. These exercises began in 1980. They are designed to strengthen ties between the Egyptian and American militaries and demonstrate and enhance the ability of the Americans...

, the annual deployment of American army and Air Force units to Egypt serves much the same purpose as Reforger did.

Reforger Exercises

Name	Start Date	Major Units
Reforger I	JAN 1969	(Germany based unit) 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment; (U.S. based unit) 24th Infantry Division (Mech)
Reforger II	OCT 1970	(Germany based unit) 3rd Infantry Division (Mech); (U.S. based unit) 1st Infantry Division (Mech)
Reforger III	OCT 1971	(Germany based unit) 1st Armored Division; (U.S. based unit) 1st Infantry Division (Mech
Reforger IV	JAN 1972	(U.S. based unit) 2nd Armored Division
Reforger V	SEP 1973	(Germany based unit) 3rd Infantry Division (Mech); (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division
Reforger 74	SEP 1974	(Germany based units) 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division
Reforger 75	SEP 1975	(Germany based units) 3rd Infantry Division (Mech), 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division
Reforger 76	SEP 1976	(Germany based units) 1st Armored Division, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment; (U.S. based units) 101st Airborne, 1st Infantry Division (Mech)
Reforger 77	SEP 1977	(Germany based units) 3rd Infantry Division (Mech), 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 4th Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
Reforger 78	SEP 1978	(Germany based units) 8th Infantry Division, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment; (U.S. based units) 4th Infantry Division (Mech), 5th Infantry Division (Mech), 9th Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
Reforger 79	JAN 1979	(Germany based units) 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division
Reforger 80	SEP 1980	(Germany based units) 3rd Infantry Division (Mech), 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Cavalry Division
Reforger 81	SEP 1981	(Germany based units) 8th Infantry Division, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 4th Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division
Reforger 82	SEP 1982	(Germany based units) 3rd Infantry Division (Mech), 8th Infantry Division, 1st Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division
Reforger 83	SEP 1983	(Germany based units) 8th Infantry Division, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Cavalry Division
Reforger 84	SEP 1984	(Germany based units) 3rd Infantry Division (Mech), 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 5th Infantry Division , 24th Infantry Division , 30th Armored Brigade (Sep) (ARNG, Tennessee), 7th Infantry Division (Light) (3rd Brigade)
Reforger 85	SEP 1985	(Germany based units) 8th Infantry Division, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 4th Infantry Division (mech), 5th Infantry Division (mech), 197th Infantry Brigade
Reforger 86	SEP 1986	(Germany based units) 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 24th Infantry Division (mech), 30th Armored Brigade (Sep) (ARNG, Tennessee), 7th Infantry Division (Light) (3rd Brigade)
Reforger 87	SEP 1987	(Germany based units) 3rd Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 24th Infantry Division , 30th Armored Brigade (Sep) (ARNG, Tennessee); 7th Infantry Division (Light) (3rd Brigade)
Reforger 88	SEP 1988	(Germany based units) 3rd Infantry Division (Mech), 8th Infantry Division, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division, Berlin Brigade; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 179th Infantry Brigade (ARNG, Oklahoma)
Reforger 90 - "Centurian Shield"	11 JAN 1990 to 28 JAN 1990	(Germany based units) 8th Infantry Division, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, 3rd Armored Division; (U.S. based units) 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 2nd Armored Division, 10th Mountain Division; National Guard Brigade
Reforger 91	SEP 1991	(U.S. based unit) 4th Infantry Division
Reforger 92 - "Certain Caravan"	SEP 1992	(U.S. based units) HQ, 1st (U.S.) Infantry Division (Mech); Parts 2nd Brigade, 1st (U.S) Infantry Division (Mech); HQ, 24th Infantry Division (Mech), 30th Armored Brigade (Sep) (ARNG, Tennessee); HQ, 3rd Brigade, 7th (U.S.) Infantry Division (Light)
Reforger 93	MAY 1993	(Germany based units) 1st Armored Division, 3rd Infantry Division (Mech)

External links

• REFORGER, GlobalSecurity.org
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