vehicles, the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system, the UH-60 Black Hawk and the AH-64A Apache helicopters. In January 1967, in accordance with Headquarters Department of the Army Msg NR DA796059 dated 9 January 1967, the USAREUR and Seventh Army staffs were merged to become Headquarters and Headquarters Company, United States Army Europe and Seventh Army (HHC USAREUR 7A). Changes of the 1990s The dramatic events of the late 1980s – the opening of the Berlin Wall, German reunification, and the collapse of the Soviet Union – combined to change USAREUR again. Intermediate nuclear weapons of the 56th Field Artillery Command were withdrawn, chemical weapons were moved out of Europe, and units began to depart the European continent while others were inactivated. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, USAREUR began deploying units to the region. The first deployments from USAREUR to Saudi Arabia in August 1990 included the 45th Medical Company, an element of the 421st Medical Battalion (AA), and advance elements of 12th Aviation Brigade, which by September had deployed two Apache attack helicopter battalions, an OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopter company, a Black Hawk utility helicopter company, a CH-47 Chinook platoon, and associated support and maintenance units. These were quickly followed by intelligence specialists, chemical warfare experts, logistical personnel, many individual replacements, and finally almost the entire VII Corps. The command eventually deployed more than 75,000 personnel plus 1,200 tanks, 1,700 armored combat vehicles, more than 650 pieces of artillery, and more than 325 aircraft. When the war ended, many USAREUR soldiers remained to complete the logistical cleanup; others were deployed to northern Iraq or Turkey as part of Operation Provide Comfort to aid refugees. Upon their return to Europe, many also found that their units were in the process of either relocating to the Continental United States (CONUS) or inactivating. In 1992 alone, about 70,000 soldiers redeployed to CONUS with about 90,000 family members. The command shrank from 213,000 soldiers in 1990 to 122,000 in 1992. The VII Corps was inactivated. From 858 installations in 1990, USAREUR went down to only 415 in 1993 with more scheduled to close in the years ahead. After the Gulf War and the subsequent drawdowns, USAREUR faced a wholly different challenge in Europe. The command was engaged in humanitarian support operations, to include disaster relief and rescue and recovery, peacekeeping and non-combatant evacuations. Between 1990 and