24 Welcome to the U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr. 2014 USAG Grafenwoehr hosted Women’s Empowerment Day on Mar. 28, 2014 as part of Women’s History Month. Bavarian State Minister of Labor, Social and Family Affairs and Integration Emilia Müller was the keynote speaker, highlighting the status and accomplishments of women in today’s society. In March 2014, Russia illegally annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a gross violation of international law and of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. This lead to a restructuring of NATO’s security posture in Europe. The European Activity Set (EAS) is a combined-arms, battalion-sized group of vehicles and equipment that is prepositioned in Europe to outfit U.S. Army Regionally Aligned Forces when they rotate into theatre for training or contingency operations. The EAS includes vehicle systems and equipment that would outfit a U.S. Army combined-arms battalion, such as M1A2 SEP v2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and M2A3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, as well as the standard array of tracked and wheeled support systems. The return of heavy armor means the U.S. Army has an armored force in Europe to train across the full-spectrum of unified land operations alongside allies and partners in the region. Those continuing engagements strengthen interoperability among partners, enhance trust and help build enduring relationships that will be the foundation for future security in the region. 2015 Soldiers of 3d Squadron, 2d Cavalry Regiment participated in Operation Atlantic Resolve in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland and completed the eleven-day, 1,800 kilometer “Dragoon Ride I” road march with their Stryker combat vehicles back to Vilseck, Germany on April 1, 2015. The ground movement was the longest by the U.S. Army in Europe since the end of World War II, highlighting NATO strategic access. Upon their return, Dragoon soldiers conducted a large military parade through Rose Barracks Vilseck and were welcomed home by the military community and German partners. A partnership tree was put up at Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr on May 4, 2015. It is decorated with the crests of the units stationed at Tower and Rose Barracks and their German partner communities and units, as a symbol of German-American friendship and partnership. Swift Response 15 was the largest combined airborne training on the continent since the end of the Cold War. It was designed to integrate multiple allied nations’ high-readiness forces to operate as a cohesive team and demonstrate the alliance’s capacity to rapidly deploy and operate in support of maintaining a strong and secure Europe. Paratroopers from 11 NATO nations conducted a massive airborne combined joint forcible entry operation across four European nations during the U.S. Army-led exercise. On June 26, 2015, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter visited Grafenwoehr Training Area and the 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command. History of the Grafenwoehr Training Area
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