US embassy cable - 04FRANKFURT5846

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 FRANKFURT 005846 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, MASS, PREL, GM 
SUBJECT: RHEINLAND-PFALZ PROPOSES JOINT TRAINING FACILITY 
AT BAUMHOLDER TO KEEP U.S. PRESENCE 
 
REF: A) FRANKFURT 1495 B) BERLIN 1867 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: Consul General Peter Bodde, reasons 1.5(b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY: The Rheinland-Pfalz (R-P) state government 
has proposed converting Baumholder (a 29,158 acre army 
training facility supporting around 13,000 U.S. soldiers and 
family members) into a multi-purpose facility for 
humanitarian intervention and civil defense training.  This 
"Joint Training Area" would be available to Germany, the 
U.S., NATO, the EU, and others.  Rheinland-Pfalz is awaiting 
a German federal endorsement of the plan.  This proposal 
supplements Germany's existing efforts at Grafenwoehr to 
train third-country forces from outside the region (theater). 
 R-P's initiative is the latest expression of its commitment 
to finding workable compromises for major military 
installations in Rheinland-Pfalz in light of possible cuts 
from USG Global Force Posture Review.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (SBU) At the request of the R-P government, the Consul 
General, accompanied by the Foreign Liaison Officer (FLO) for 
Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland as well as a representative from 
the European Command (EUCOM), met with Rheinland-Pfalz State 
Secretary Karl-Peter Bruch on June 14 to discuss force 
 
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posture review.  Bruch had asked for the meeting as a 
follow-up to May 28 consultations in Berlin (ref B).  Bruch 
began by discussing the stationing concept presented by U.S. 
Army Europe (USAREUR) Commanding General B.B. Bell at the May 
28 consultations.  Bruch acknowledged that he realized Bell's 
presentation was still pre-decisional, but observed that the 
plan made no mention of the Baumholder training facility, 
currently supporting around 13,000 U.S. soldiers and family 
members. 
 
3.  (C) Bruch unveiled a R-P government proposal to convert 
Baumholder into a multi-purpose Joint Training Area (JTA) for 
use in joint and combined crisis response, humanitarian 
intervention, and civil defense training.  He noted that the 
facility would be available for use by U.S., German, EU, 
NATO, and third-country troops.  Bruch said that they were 
awaiting final approval from the military and the German 
government, but hoped to have the concept finalized by 
September and included in the German military's base planning 
for the next fiscal year. 
 
4.  (C) Bruch said that Department of Defense Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for NATO and European Affairs Ian 
Brzezinski explained in March that any facility proposed by 
Rheinland-Pfalz would have to be available for both German 
and American use to be successful.  Bruch noted that the 
proposed training and exercise area would be designed for use 
by a variety of civil and military organizations, but hopes 
that the new facility could encourage a decision to retain a 
significant U.S. military presence to remain in Baumholder. 
 
5.  (SBU) CG, USFLO, and EUCOM representatives were generally 
in a listening mode.  Nevertheless, while acknowledging the 
potential uses of the proposed training and exercise facility 
for German and European troops, EUCOM and USFLO 
representatives remarked that the U.S. military already uses 
Grafenwoehr (a U.S. army base in Bavaria) to perform similar 
training exercises for Non-Commissioned Officers from Poland 
and other Eastern European NATO partner states, and asked 
what the proposed facility could provide above and beyond 
Grafenwoehr's capabilities.  Bruch asserted that Baumholder 
could provide low-tech training to a variety of security 
forces and crisis responders and has the advantage of 
proximity to the existing U.S. infrastructure in the 
Ramstein/Kaiserslautern area.  State Secretary Bruch has 
already written to Department of Defense Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Installations and Environment Ray DuBois to 
 
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request a meeting on the Baumholder proposal and he has also 
signaled his intent to continue to raise the issue 
aggressively with the German government and German military. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
6.  (C) The proposed JTA at Baumholder is the latest in a 
series of efforts by the state to minimize the impact of 
troop withdrawals associated with U.S. force posture review. 
R-P has the largest number of resident U.S. troops of any 
German state (approximately 24,700), and its smaller economy 
(dependent on American forces) would be hardest hit by a 
reduced U.S. military presence.  Since the R-P government 
understands that they will retain major facilities such as 
Ramstein and Landstuehl, their attention is now focused on 
medium-sized installations like Baumholder.  Although R-P has 
a popular and active Minister-President in Kurt Beck (SPD), a 
financially stretched German military is moving forward with 
plans to close more than 100 existing Bundeswehr facilities 
across Germany.  Continued belt-tightening in Berlin means 
that securing funding for R-P's Baumholder proposal will be 
difficult.  END COMMENT. 
 
BODDE