Went back to RVN in 2015, and was reminded how beautiful the country is! Hanoi was fascinating, as was the thriving capitalism in Ho Chi Minh City. The Vietnamese are gracious, and bear no apparent ill-will towards Americans. It was a fantastic trip, and I highly recommend it to RVN vets!
Training Exercise - Reforger '74
From Month/Year
September / 1974
To Month/Year
November / 1974
Description 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 Warsaw Pact.
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.
This year's REFORGER exercise took place during the period 30 September-21 November 1974. In the first phase of the three-part exercise, the U.S. Air Force, using C-5 and C-141 aircraft, transported over 11,400 soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division, the 212th Artillery Group, the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, and other units based in the United States to airfields in the Federal Republic of Germany. The units received prepositioned sets of equipment and then moved to assembly areas. CERTAIN PLEDGE, the field training phase of REFORGER, involved the airlifted units, as well as U.S. Army, Europe; German; and Canadian forces in extensive offensive and defensive exercises during the period 10-23 October 1974. The final phase began on 24 October 1974 when the airlifted units test-fired large-caliber weapons and performed the maintenance necessary to prepare the prepositioned stocks for storage. During this phase, tactical operations center personnel from the airlifted units participated in command post exercise CERTAIN RESOLVE. Afterward, the units departed Nurnberg and Ramstein Air Force bases and returned to their home stations by 21 November 1974.
Major units: (Germany-based units) USAREUR (U.S. Army Europe): 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Nuremberg; 1st Armored Division, Ansbach. (U.S. based units): 1st Infantry Division (Mech), 1st Cavalry Division, 8th Infantry Division, Bad Kreuznach.
