Lucius D. Clay Kaserne was a new military facility built near the village of Garlstedt just north of the city of
Bremen. The facilities cost nearly $140 million to construct, half of which was paid for by the
Federal Republic of Germany. The
2nd Armored Division (Forward) stationed there had approximately 3,500 soldiers and another approximately 2,500 family dependents and civilian employees. The West German government constructed family housing in the nearby city of Osterholz-Scharmbeck. In addition to troop barracks, motor pools, an indoor firing range, repair and logistics facilities, and a local training area, facilities at Garlstedt included a troop medical clinic, post exchange, library, movie theater, and a combined officer/non-commissioned officer/enlisted club. The division's soldiers and family members received radio and TV broadcasts from The
American Forces Network (AFN) – Europe via the
AFN Bremerhaven affiliate station located in the nearby port city of Bremerhaven. The brigade was officially designated as 2nd Armored Division (Forward) during ceremonies at Grafenwöhr, FRG on 25 July 1978. The Garlstedt facilities were officially turned over to the United States by the German government in October. At that time the Garlstedt kaserne (camp) was named after General Lucius D. Clay, the American military commander during the
Allied occupation of Germany after
World War II. His son, a retired U.S. Army major general, attended the ceremony. The brigadier general in charge of 2nd Armored Division (Forward) had a unique command. In addition to command of the heavy brigade, he also functioned as the Commander,
III Corps (Forward), headquartered in
Maastricht,
Netherlands, and as commander of all US Army forces in
Northern Germany, including the military communities of Garlstedt and Bremerhaven. In the event of the deployment of III Corps and/or the 2nd Armored Division from the United States, the division commander would revert to his job as assistant division commander for operations of 2nd Armored Division. This contingency was practised during
REFORGER exercises in 1980 and 1987. As a result of this varied and demanding job, command of the 2nd Armored Division (Forward) was considered a plum assignment for armor branch brigadier generals, on par with perhaps only the
Berlin Brigade for high visibility and potential for advancement to higher rank. The brigade initially deployed to Germany with the
M60 Patton tank and the
M113 armored personnel carrier. 4–3rd Field Artillery had the
M109 155 mm self-propelled howitzer. In 1984, 2–66th AR transitioned to the
M1 Abrams main battle tank. In 1985, 3–41st IN and 4–41st IN transitioned to the
M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The C/2-1 Cavalry was replaced by an air cavalry troop, the D/2-1 Cavalry, armed with
AH-1S Cobra attack helicopters. The brigade's initial subordinate combat units consisted of the 3rd Battalion of the
41st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion of the
50th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion,
66th Armored Regiment (Iron Knights), 1st Battalion,
14th Field Artillery Regiment, and C Troop, 2nd Squadron,
1st Cavalry Regiment. In October 1983, as part of the army's regimental alignment program, 2–50 Infantry was redesignated as 4–41 Infantry and 1–14 Field Artillery as 4–3 Field Artillery. Other brigade subordinate units eventually included the 498th Support Battalion, D Company, 17th Engineer Battalion, and the 588th Military Intelligence Company. The brigade also had a military police platoon and an aviation detachment. In 1986, under the army's COHORT unit manning and retention plan, 3–41st Infantry returned to
Fort Hood,
Texas, and was replaced by 1–41st Infantry. In 1987, 4–41st Infantry returned to Fort Hood and was replaced by 3–66th Armor (Burt's Knights, named for Captain James M. Burt who was awarded the
Medal of Honor as a company commander in the 66th Armored Regiment in the
Battle of Aachen during World War II). Now an armor-heavy brigade, 2nd Armored Division (Forward) fielded 116 M-1A1 Abrams tanks and nearly 70 M2/3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The division participated in numerous major NATO training exercises, including "Trutzige Sachsen" (1985), "Crossed Swords" (1986) and the "Return of Forces to Germany" (REFORGER) (1980 and 1987). Division subordinate units used the NATO gunnery and maneuver ranges at the
Bergen-Hohne Training Area for gunnery and maneuver training and each year the division as a whole deployed south to Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels[24] (both in Bavaria) training areas for annual crew and unit gunnery and maneuver qualification. The division had a formal partnership with Panzergrenadierbrigade 32, a Federal Republic of Germany Bundeswehr mechanized infantry brigade headquartered in nearby Schwanewede. The division also had informal relationships with Dutch, Belgian, and British NORTHAG forces, often conducting joint training activities at Bergen Hohne. After the Gulf War the division went through a series of inactivations and redesignations. Due to the restructuring of the U.S. Army after the end of the Cold War, the 2nd Armoured division was ordered off the active duty rolls, ending more than 50 years of continuous service. SGT Michael L. Anderson was the last member of the 2nd Armored Division. He was a 74F who was in charge of cutting orders for all remaining members of 2nd Armored Division HQ. On 1 September 1991, he cut the final orders for himself and his commanding officer. Over the summer and fall of 1992, the 2nd Armored Division was inactivated. Lucius D. Clay Kaserne was turned back over to the German government and was later to become home of the German Army Logistics and Supply School (Logistikschule der Bundeswehr) as well as the seat of General der Nachschubtruppe. Lucius D. Clay's name was later reused for the Wiesbaden Army Airfield.
21st century Until summer 2011, WAAF was home to the headquarters of
1st Armored Division and a number of subordinate units. As American forces draw down in Europe, 2017 plans called for Wiesbaden to remain one of six geographic hubs for U.S. forces in Europe. After the closure of US facilities in
Frankfurt, the headquarters of American Forces Network (AFN) was moved from its old
AFN Frankfurt location to
Mannheim. AFN opened a small regional studio, AFN Hessen, on WAAF to serve the American troops in and around Wiesbaden. It is now home to the
2nd Military Intelligence Battalion of the
66th Military Intelligence Brigade, flying the
RC-12 Guardrail signals intelligence aircraft. On June 14, 2012, WAAF was renamed "Lucius D. Clay Kaserne" after General
Lucius D. Clay. Clay was the former
U.S. military governor of the Germany and architect of the rebuilding of Germany after World War II that led to the
Marshall Plan. Clay instituted
Operation Vittles from WAAF in 1948, retiring only after the Soviets lifted their blockade of Berlin. Prior to this renaming, "Lucius D. Clay Kaserne" was the name of a U.S. Army facility in then-West Germany, near the community of
Garlstedt in
Osterholz-Scharmbeck. The installation still named Clay Kaserne had been the home of the
2nd Armored Division (Forward) and is now the home of the
Bundeswehr's logistics school. In 2022 and 2023, during the
Russo-Ukrainian War from 2022, the base became the logistical hub, the International Donor Coordination Center, involving at least 17 nations who had representatives there. The Clay Barracks were the central location for the secret US support for Ukraine in the war against Russia. A New York Times article in March 2025 revealed that the US had planned and directed military operations for attacks on Russian territory from there, and provided the target coordinates for these operations. Key figures such as General
Christopher Donahue and
Mykhailo Zabrodskyi laid the foundation for the cooperation. This made the US government advisors an important part of the Ukrainian defense against Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to US sources, more than 700,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine’s defense of its territory during the Russo-Ukrainian war. ==Lindsey Air Station==