Here’s Your Helmet, What’s Your Hurry?

The new command of the Bundeswehr Ost, the remains of the former East German army, has inherited a logistical nightmare: getting rid of the Soviet army. According to U.S. military attaches, the Soviets have more than a million tons of munitions stockpiled on German soil, not counting the array of tanks, guns, planes and rocket launchers to deliver them. In addition, the 380,000 Soviet troops still stationed in East Germany occupy some 2,000 military “objects,” which means everything from barracks to hospitals to airfields. If the Soviets meet the current four-year timetable for withdrawal, they will have to dispose $ of about 500 of those “objects” annually, more than one a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. The economic dislocations — not to mention the munitions tonnage — could be explosive.