| United States Army Aviation in Europe |
The last few decades saw a major change within the United States Army in Europe (USAREUR). All US forces benefited when Ronald Reagan was President of the United States. Billions of Dollars were spend on modernizing and renewal. During that time hundreds of CH-47Ds, OH-58Ds, UH-60As and AH-64As were deployed to Europe. The Army of Excellence (AoE)-program during the mid eighties was the first step to restructure the forces. 1990 saw the biggest built up of US Forces outside the US since Vietnam. This time the Middle East was the location for Desert Shield. Of course the USAREUR participated and many Blackhawks immediately deployed under own power thanks to the ESSS (External Stores Support System) which allowes them to fly long distances. Many helicopters departed from Ramstein AB (Germany) and Rhein Main AB (Germany) inside C-5 Galaxies, but the majority left via the Netherlands. Hundreds of helicopters flew in small groups to Valkenburg airfield and made the small hop to Rotterdam harbour from there.
When Desert Storm was over the Warsaw Pact had collapsed and the enemy of the Cold War no longer existed. This lead to Retrograde Europe (RETROREUR) and large numbers of the forces in the Middle East never even came back to Europe. Since the start of the nineties USAREUR had lost halve its inventory.
Lessons learned in Iraq and a new round of budget cuts lead to Army Restructure Initiative (ARI) in 1994. Until now this was the last big cut in forces for the US Army. The USAREUR was about the last to undergo ARI. Many units received a different name. The US Army calls this 'reflagging' where they try to keep the units with the oldest traditions alive. All helicopters form the Vietnam-era left Europe. C-12Cs, AH-1Fs, UH-1Hs and OH-58A, C and Ds were no longer thought to be able to survive on the modern battlefield. Instead C-12Rs, UC-35As, OH-58D(I)s, UH-60Ls and AH-64Ds arrived as a replacement.
Because of the many obligations the men and women of the USAREUR are not home very often. After Desert Storm, came (among others) Provide Comfort (Turkey), Southern Watch (Saudi Arabia), Joint Guard (Bosnia), Able Sentry (Macedonia) IFOR and SFOR and KFOR are still going on in the former Yugoslavia.
US Army Unit structure
For many it is still not clear how the US Army is organised as it is a bit more complex than the USAF, USN or USMC. The different terminology used by the US Army is also a factor, which has its origin in the early days of Army Aviation. During those days every Army Command had their own planes and could make up their own unit designation. This went on until the war in Korea. An attempt to standardize this was made with the US Army Regimental System (USARS) followed by the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) of 1957.
It took till 14 April 1983 before the US Army Aviation became a separate branch of the US Army, bringing all aircraft and helicopters under one command, leading again to a huge reorganisation. The only exception to this are the Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) Units, which still come under control of the Medical Service Corps.
As far as we know there are no rules for presenting a unit name. One can say 1-1st AVN, but also 1-1AVN, 1-1 ATKHB or 1st Battalion/1st Aviation Regiment. All are used and one can also switch the punctuation marks like - and /.
Below a review of the unit designations with in the USAREUR.
- Platoon (PLTN)
This is the smallest unit within the Army Aviation. A Blackhawk platoon consists mostly of up to four helicopters. The boss ussually is a First Lieutenant.
- Company (Com) / Troop (Trp)
A company is a collection of platoons, comparable to a flight within the USAF. An Apaches unit consists of eight airframes. Three for scout/reconnaissance and five for attack purposes. Troop is the Cavalry name for a company. The boss is a Captain or Major.
- Battalion (Bn) / Squadron (Sqn)
This is comparable to a squadron with the USAF. An attack unit normally consist of five companies. The Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) arranges ground support, fuel and paperwork. Normally there are three flying companies (AH-64A) and an Aviation Unit Maintenance (AVUM) company for small maintenance. A General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) has about the same composition, but they fly the Blackhawk. C Company mostly has a special task with their Electronic Warfare EH-60As and Command and Control UH-60A(C)s. A Command (CMD) and Assault (ASLT) battalion normally consist of two companies with Blackhawks. Squadron is the Cavalry name for a battalion.
- Brigade (BDE) / Group (GRP)
A collection of three to five battalions is called a Brigade. This is comparable to a wing with the USAF. A Brigade is self supportive and can deploy as such. Aviation Groups have a specific task.
- Division (DIV)
A division consists of two or three land brigades (tanks and other vehicles), one aviation brigade, a artillery brigade and a support command division. A division consist of about ten to 18 thousand soldiers.
Corps (CORPS)
A corps has no own troops but consists of units which are necessary to reach a specific goal.
Army (ARMY)
This is the biggest element with the US Army. It is a field command who organises and command the units assigned to it.
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Photo: Jurgen van Toor
Photo: Jurgen van Toor
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You can find more about the US Army on these pages. On the Order of Battle page we show you where the
main bases are. A map of the Europe is available. Click on an airbase to see what's there to be found. Also we present links to
Microsoft's Expediamaps services: with each airbase you can find a link to a map of the airbases' neighbourhood .
Order of Battle
The Database
Links to Related Websites
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