Special operators speed away during an exercise hosted by the U.S. Special Operations Command Europe at Baumholder, Germany, in 2014. A push to transform Baumholder into a special operations hub is slated to get a $64 million funding boost in the Defense Department's 2024 budget. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The transformation of a rural Army garrison in western Germany into a special operations hub would move forward under the military’s 2024 budget, which calls for $64 million in various upgrades.
It allocates $41 million for a special operations company operations facility at the Army’s garrison in Baumholder and $23 million for a joint parachute rigging site.
The moves build on other recent special operations projects in Baumholder, which eventually will serve as a home for hundreds of Green Berets and SEALs.
Last year, about $78 million was directed toward buildings and facilities to support special operations teams headed to the area.
Special operators descend from a Czech MI-171 helicopter during an exercise hosted by the U.S. Special Operations Command Europe at Baumholder, Germany, in 2014. The military’s 2024 budget calls for expenditure of $64 million on various upgrades at Baumholder. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
While a precise timeline hasn’t been announced for the relocation of special operators from the congested metropolitan region of Stuttgart to the more remote Baumholder, the move is a long time coming.
Army and special operations leaders have advocated for the shift, which would give troops easy access to Baumholder’s large training ranges.
The move also would provide relief to a German community in the Stuttgart area that has long complained about the crackle of gunfire at ranges within earshot of well-to-do neighborhoods.
The looming influx of special operators to Baumholder, along with other projects supporting soldiers already based there, are a boost to an area that not long ago was on the Army’s chopping block as part of a long post-Cold War drawdown.
A U.S. Special Operations Command soldier parachutes in during an exercise in Renningen, Germany, on Feb. 16, 2022. A joint parachute rigging site that was allocated $23 million in the military’s 2024 budget is part of a transformation of the Army’s installation in Baumholder, Germany, into a special operations hub. (Anthony Whipple/U.S. Army)
The uncertainty of the Army’s future in Baumholder meant that for years, little funding was put into the garrison’s aging facilities. As a result, troops and their families lived in old, rundown barracks and stairwell-style housing buildings.
However, over the past several years, tens of millions of dollars have been pumped into public works projects.
In the Army’s 2024 budget, $78.7 million was earmarked for new family housing at Baumholder.
That follows the expenditure of $130 million in the 2023 budget on various housing improvements.
Baumholder American High School and some base housing is seen from downtown Baumholder, Germany, in July 2022. The military’s plan is to transform Baumholder into a new special operations hub. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
