Operation: Reforger/Certain Strike (part 3)

In 1987 combat cameraman Glenn Sierra documented the last major NATO joint exercise in Europe. Shipping men and equipment around the world was expensive and so was the collateral damage of war-gaming in civilian areas. At the time the people of Western Europe understood the Russian Soviet threat as real and accepted the NATO training.

[@redneckjedi4978]

I participated in REFORGER from 1987-1990. Was assigned to 3rd COSCOM, 16th SUPPORT GROUP, 8th MAINT> BN, 53rd HMSC. We assisted in the unloading of equipment and storage until equipment was picked up by assigned unit.

[@50STONEhW]

This was from the era of time when I served in the United States Army. Started Basic/AIT at Fort Knox Kentucky in 1982 as an M60A1 Armored Crewman and remember either seeing or touching every piece of U.S. equipment and training on some of the German equipment in this video and wearing the BDU uniform plus the TA50 each American soldier has. Great memories here. Hope you got more. “HOOAH!”

[@jurgenhirsch7207]

I missing the old woodland UNiforms and the ALICE Equipment of the US Army of the 90s

[@1869eases]

First of all, I want to thank you for your service. I do apologize for the error in the intro graphic. When I found my brother's footage along with his notes he wrote "...one of the largest REFORGER exercises in Europe so far..." and you are right, the numbers show REFORGER '88 had more boots on the ground. I appreciate your knowledge and input.

[@meribast]

+1869eases Yeah I was going to say I was in West Germany 1989 and Operation Reforger was run that year as well. A lot of equipment was in place already, waiting for soldiers to get to it. The whole thing about REFORGER is in its name which stands for "REturn of FORces to GERmany" after being pushed back by the inital Soviet assault. Like I said a lot of heavy equipment like M1A1s were already in place in depots to be manned by soldiers arriving from CONUS (Continental USA)-based troops. I was attached to a strategic intel unit and never took part but plenty of REFORGER troops used local facilities.

[@sandynewman5533]

@@meribast there was no 1989 REFORGER, after 88, the next was 1990. I was there 86-89, Echo 1/48 Infantry, 2nd Brigade 3rd Armored Division.

[@user-yx8bh9gu4t]

The river crossing by the 4th ID guys was epic!

[@user-yx8bh9gu4t]

Who wrote these intros? REFORGER '87 was hardly "the last major field exercise in Europe." REFORGER exercises were held every year from the late '60s to 1993. In fact, the REFORGER exercise after this one held in September of 1988, "REFORGER '88" was the largest European ground maneuver since the end of World War II with 125,000 US/NATO troops deployed throughout Germany. My unit (1-279th Inf) deployed to REFORGER '87, and our sister battalion (1-179th Inf ) deployed in 1988. That said, it wasn't so much of exercise to test our combat capabilities (most of that is done at home), but rather to test our deployment capabilities and our logistics, which is of course, half the battle.

[@the5-starreview871]

Stop being jealous dude. I was in Reforger 1987. 6th Calvary!

[@jameslynch7826]

I took part on Ex CS.
On Challenger
It was a great laugh

[@gordonlandreth9550]

How so ? Give us a good story !

[@fetengineer9151]

HOOAH! I was there.

[@mattlocke06]

Nice eye brow @ 3:40.