18 Welcome to the U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr. 1981 From 1981 to 1993, the U.S. Army extends and enlarges Rose Barracks, the southern tip of the Grafenwoehr Training Area. The total cost of renovations and enlargement exceeds one billion U.S. dollars. September The Red Army Faction (RAF) carry out an unsuccessful rocket propelled grenade attack against the car carrying the U.S. Army’s West German Commander Frederick J. Kroesen in Heidelberg. 1982 From the July 1982 Spearhead magazine: “An eight-inch howitzer from the 1st Bn., 40th Field Artillery fires from underneath its camo at the Grafenwoehr Training Area before rumbling down the range road to another firing point.” 1983 First M2/3 and M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System is fi red at Grafenwoehr. The M270 is a mobile unit, well-suited for the shoot-and scoot tactic it can fire its rockets rapidly, and quickly move-away to avoid returning counter battery fire. 1984/85 The first M1A1 Tanks arrive for trials at Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels. 1985 August Major upgrades are completed at Grafenwoehr facilities, and the ranges are renumbered. SIMNET, a wide area network with vehicle simulators and displays for real-time distributed combat simulation is released for testing in 1985, by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. SIMNET is subsequently fielded in 1987, and was used for training until successor programs came online in the 1990s. 1986 April The nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union melts-down and explodes releasing a cloud of radioactivity into the atmosphere over Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. 1987 July Soviet Forces withdraw from Afghanistan. Civil war erupts among tribesmen and multiple rival factions seeking control of the country. 1988 The Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) is activated at Hohenfels. The CMTC mission is to provide realistic combined arms training for U.S. Army Europe, and Seventh Army’s maneuver battalion task forces in force-on-force exercises. 1989 November Freedom Prevails: After weeks of civil unrest the East German government announces its citizens will be allowed to visit West Berlin, causing a flood of East Germans to the west, and bringing about the fall of the Berlin Wall, more than a quarter century after it was erected. History of the Grafenwoehr Training Area
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