President Donald Trump’s decision to yank military support from a key U.S. ally is yet another sign of his rash, ill-tempered leadership, a military expert warned.
“What I see instead in the order withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany is a decision that treats a complex, carefully constructed force deployed far from the United States as if it were a simple number to be adjusted,” wrote former Army commander Mark Hertling in a Saturday piece for the Bulwark.
“It has all the hallmarks of a decision made by a petulant senior leader looking for short-term retribution regardless of long-term strategy,” he added. “And I see echoes of a previous mistake—which I believe contributed to instability in Europe and which I wish I had done more to prevent.”
The decision came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Trump’s negotiations to end the war in Iran. Merz said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian regime, a comment that has gotten deep under Trump’s skin.
Hertling cast doubt that “a thorough review” of the decision really took place, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in justification of the move. It’s “more likely” a way for Trump to retaliate against Germany for declining to get involved in the war in Iran, according to Hertling. Trump said on Saturday that “we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000” troops.
“There is a persistent myth that Europe hosts a large, excess pool of American troops—most of them sitting in Germany, eating schnitzel and drinking beer, waiting for something to do. That’s simply not true,” Hertling explained. “Germany houses critical intelligence centers, logistics hubs, maintenance facilities, and command-and-control headquarters that underpin global operations.”
Having the U.S. military in Germany also allows it to “lily pad,” or respond quickly to a crisis not just across Europe but in the Middle East and in North Africa, Hertling wrote. U.S. Special Operations Forces monitor terrorist networks and cyber threats from Germany, he added.
“You can’t convince me any of these considerations were present in the review Secretary Hegseth mentioned,” Hertling argued. “It doesn’t pass the common sense test.”
According to Hertling, if the U.S. had stepped in to stop the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian Donbas region in the 2010s, “a single U.S. armored brigade—coincidentally a unit of about 5,000 soldiers—may have prevented the first Russian invasion of Ukraine and the devastating war that followed.”
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