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German officer to serve as U.S. Army Europe's chief of staff



A German Army brigadier general who recently served with NATO forces in Afghanistan is assuming duties as the chief of staff of U. S. Army Europe, the first time a non-American officer has held that position.

Brig. Gen. Markus Laubenthal, most recently the commander of Germany’s 12th Panzer Brigade in Amberg, and chief of staff of Regional Command North, International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan, will be stationed at USAREUR headquarters, Wiesbaden, Germany. He could report to duty as early as Monday.

Laubenthal also has served as military assistant to the deputy commander of operations and assistant chief of staff of operations for NATO forces in Kosovo.

As the major staff assistant to USAREUR commander Lt. Gen. Donald Campbell, Laubenthal will synchronize the command’s staff activities much as American predecessors have in the past.

“This is a bold and major step forward in USAREUR’s commitment to operating in a multinational environment with our German allies,” said Campbell.

“U. S. and German senior military leaders have been serving together in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for years. Sustaining the shared capability from this experience will benefit both the U. S. and German armies,” said Campbell who has headed the Army’s largest and oldest overseas command since 2012.

Laubenthal’ s assignment comes at a time of strained relations between the U.S. and Germany as a result of disclosures over the past year that the National Security Agency, and more recently the Central Intelligence Agency, had been conducting information gathering operations against German citizens, to include Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Army sources in Europe said the first-ever assignment of a German general to the USAREUR staff is unrelated to the political furor over the spying revelations, but does reflect the increased importance of multinational operations in NATO.

Officials said the addition of a German general officer to the USAREUR staff has been planned for several months, and is part of an American effort to give a more multi-national flavor to its major overseas commands.


http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140731/NEWS08/307310070/German-officer-serve-U-S-Army-Europe-s-chief-staff

dammit ... this time it will be our own military bombing pearl harbor

This is one of those iffy type things. While I do believe that an American should lead Americans, this sort of thing isn't new. It's new at a level like this, but not new. When I was in Afghanistan we were under German command in RC-North. We were part of a Task Force and there wasn't much American presence there. Not too long ago there was a Brit serving as Assistant Division Commander of the 82nd. I've known few officers that have also held command positions in foreign armies.

I could be wrong here, but it's one thing to be under a unified command such as NATO. In such and instance I would believe that the decisions would be based more on what such a command needs a needs a unit to do. In this instance, a foreign national is made an actual part of the command structure privy to much more than information about the inner workings of our military.

On the other hand, one must ask the question, "So we don't have a qualified member of our military to assume this role?"

Which begs the next question: WGAF what the EU thinks? If they don't like our command structure then they can defend themselves. Kinda like not looking a gift horse in the face.

First the world cup.
Now this.
What's next? The WORLD??