Army Brig. Gen. Thomas R. Csrnko, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Europe, addresses troops and guests Friday at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, during an event marking SOCEUR’s 50th birthday. (Charlie Coon / S&S)
STUTTGART, Germany — The 15-minute ceremony was low profile, not unlike how the U.S. Special Operations Command Europe prefers to operate.
About 175 people attended a ceremony Friday inside Patch Gym to mark the SOCEUR’s 50th birthday. Many were in formation with the color guard, others were seated in the bleachers or in VIP seats up front. Naturally, there was a cake-cutting.
SOCEUR was born in Paris and moved to Stuttgart in 1967. Its job was to plan and control special operations throughout the U.S. European Command's area of responsibility, which now includes more than 90 countries in Europe and Africa.
Members of the joint command include soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen such as Tech. Sgt. Laurie Heber, who said that participating in rescue missions in Africa and Eastern Europe makes her job worthwhile.
“That’s why I stay [at SOCEUR] so long,” said Heber, of Greenville, S.C., who has worked in the command for seven years. “I feel like I’m doing something that helps other people, and that it’s relevant.”
“I think everyone should cycle through a joint command at some time,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam Klemz of Chicago. “It’s a real eye-opener and a good chance to see the big picture.”
It’s not that SOCEUR was opposed to throwing itself a big party to mark the occasion. It just wasn’t feasible at this time, according to the SOCEUR commander, Army Brig. Gen. Thomas R. Csrnko.
“It was the best we could do under the circumstances,” Csrnko said. “We have a lot of folks deployed.”
Next year a more robust celebration is being planned, he said, and hopefully it will take place in Paris.
“It’s important to take time to honor the history of our organization, to honor the men and women who came before us,” Csrnko said. “We do this because of what our forefathers did.
“We raised our hand and chose to do this. It’s not just a patriotic chore.”
Since the fall of the Soviet Union and Iron Curtain in the early 1990s, SOCEUR troops have executed special operations in Kuwait, Iraq, Sierra Leone, the Balkans, Liberia, Congo and Mozambique, as well as other places, including the current missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Marine Cpl. Adam Dickerson said that being a member of a joint command has taught him a lot about how the other services work. The 22-year-old from Mason, Mich., said special operations seemed tailored to real-world crises.
“[Special operations] is paramount to how the nation is moving,” Dickerson said. “We’re using every resource we have at our disposal to tackle the war on terrorism.”
