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The townspeople of Vilseck, Germany, worry that Trump may pull out 5,000 U.S. troops

NPR | By Rob Schmitz

Published May 16, 2026 at 5:00 AM CDT

Mayor Thorsten Grädler of Vilseck, Germany, discovered that his town could be the target of President Trump's U.S. troop cuts on his first day in office, when a journalist told him during a press conference. Grädler says the impact on his town would be "dramatic."

VILSECK, Germany — It was Thorsten Grädler's first day on the job as mayor of the Bavarian town of Vilseck when, at his introductory press conference, a journalist broke it to him. "Did you hear the news? It's bad news," said the journalist, informing the new mayor of a German media report that President Trump's announced cuts to the U.S. troop presence in Germany would mean the removal of 5,000 soldiers from the town he'd just been elected to run.

Mayor Grädler's face sank. "Are you serious? This is hitting me hard, I have to admit," he said, his eyes welling up with tears. "I'm pretty emotional, actually."

Since that day, Grädler has been busy doing interviews with international media that have descended on his tiny town, population 6,500. While he finishes up his fifth interview of the day, the town's church bell rings noon, and roosters in the alley behind Vilseck City Hall respond with a chorus of cock-a-doodle-doos.

View of Vilseck in the Upper Palatinate. The U.S. Department of Defense announced its intention to withdraw about 5,000 of the approximately 37,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Germany. Bayerischer Rundfunk reported that the so-called Stryker Brigade in Vilseck, Bavaria, would be affected.

This tiny Bavarian town has a 1,000-year-old castle, a 700-year-old watchtower, and a mayor in office for just a few days who's facing one of the town's biggest crises in its history. "If what they say is true," says Grädler, "and 5,000 soldiers are taken from our town, along with their family members, we're talking another 12,000 to 13,000 people leaving Vilseck. That's double the number of the people who reside here. This will have dramatic consequences."

More than 37,000 U.S. forces remain in Germany, part of the U.S. military presence that's been in the country since World War II and the Cold War to deter Russia, defend NATO and project power. Air bases on German soil been critical for U.S. operations in the Middle East and provided life-saving medical care to wounded soldiers from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The reported withdrawal of the Vilseck forces would not mark an abandonment of the U.S. engagement in Germany, but it would still hurt the town.

For decades, Vilseck has hosted the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, a Stryker infantry unit of the U.S. Army whose soldiers are trained to deploy quickly for combat. If these soldiers — and their family members — are suddenly withdrawn, Grädler says his town stands to lose more than $800 million of revenue per year. But he says the loss will be felt in other, more personal ways. "Over the decades, Americans have become an integral part of our social and cultural life," says Grädler. "They rent apartments from us, they shop in our stores, they dine in our restaurants and taverns. The children of American families play for our local soccer clubs, and many of them attend our schools."

"For us in Vilseck, normally we don't split Germans, Americans. They are part of Vilseck. That's one big community," says Sabine Kederer, owner of Vilseck's Hotel Angerer, down the street from City Hall.

"Welcome to Rose Barracks Vilseck" is written at the entrance to the U.S. base in the Upper Palatinate.

Robert Moore, who has served in the U.S. Army for 11 years, poses outside his home in the Netzaberg housing area, where U.S. military personnel and their families reside near Grafenwoehr military training area, north of Vilseck, on May 5. "I've been here since 2022, so about four years now. And there's nothing to dislike about Germany," says Moore, a 31‑year‑old culinary sergeant.

Kederer's family has owned the hotel since 1666. They've seen a lot in more than three and a half centuries of ownership, but nothing could have prepared her for Trump's announcement. She says Vilseck's American residents are some of her best friends. "They make our birthday parties when our parents had no time and when we were small," recalls Kederer, while holding back tears. "The other ones, they go out with my dad for fishing and hunting or whatever, they were here for Oktoberfest. That's friends."

Kederer says she's gotten so used to having Americans around that she now prefers to work with Americans over Germans. She calls Americans "more easygoing."

Albin Merkl, 66, stops for a photo on the street in Vilseck, Germany, on May 4. "When the Strykers arrived, we were worried they'd be a bunch of roughnecks, but they're actually really nice," says Merkl, a pensioner who rents apartments to U.S. personnel. "We've always done good business with the Americans," he says, adding that trains to nearby Nuremberg were filled with younger soldiers heading out for off‑duty entertainment.

Veronika Varga, 50, owner of Vroni's Hundesalon, a dog-grooming business, finishes a client's dog in Vilseck, Germany, on May 5. Varga estimates that 70% of her clients are American, and she doesn't know how to keep her two employees if they leave Vilseck.

Across town at the Hammer Gasthof, a group of retired men drink beer, or what they proudly call "Bavarian bread." All of them have heard the news that the local American troops may be leaving, but none of them think it'll happen, says Richard Schmidt, a retired businessman in town. "We don't believe it. This is not logical. This is only a stupid idea of Trump," he says.

The rest of the men nod their heads and sip on their "Bavarian bread." Schmidt says Trump has threatened to take these troops away before, but he was voted out of power before he could go through with the threat. If he follows through this time, says Schmidt, he thinks it'll destroy his town. "If they move, I estimate three- to five-thousand people will lose their jobs," he says sadly.

Fatmir Fazliji, 40, owner of Friends Pizza, looks out the window of his diner in Vilseck, Germany, on May 4. "If 5,000 troops leave, it will affect everyone, and that would be a downfall for the town. I have 90% American clients," Fazliji says.

That's 3 out of every 4 people in Vilseck. But Schmidt says he and his friends doubt this will happen. Vilseck, he says, has heard President Trump's threats before. They've watched as he's threatened to take Greenland as well, and Schmidt says they've noticed a leader who often makes threats — but often does not follow through.