CHANGES ARE COMING IN US ARMY EUROPE. BIG CHANGES.

U.S. Army Europe soldiers stationed in Iraq may not know when they’re going home. But at least now they know where they’ll be going home.

Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Army Europe commander, acknowledged in an open letter to his troops published in today’s edition of Stars and Stripes that there likely would be changes to the command’s force structure in Europe. It’s all part of the transformation plan that the military has been working on and could affect the 100,000 troops stationed in Europe.

Bell said no decisions have been made on specific changes such as base closures or relocating units. But he said soldiers will be given time to adjust to whatever decisions are made.

“I’d like to quell at least one rumor that has already made the circuit, and that is the notion that selected forces currently deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom will be sent directly back to CONUS [the United States], leaving families in Europe to fend for themselves,” Bell writes. “That simply will not happen.

Another of those rumors is that the 100,000 soldiers stationed here will be reduced to 17,000. But that is just rumor at this point.

Meanwhile the entire story is here.