The world's attention may be fixed on Ebola and the Islamic State, but U.S. soldiers and armored vehicles are conducting exercises in Eastern Europe to remind Russia that NATO will defend every inch of the alliance's territory.
Roughly 800 soldiers along with 15 M1A2 SEP Abrams tanks, 22 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 16 Strykers are taking part in exercises in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, said Jesse Granger, a spokesman for U.S. Army Europe. The soldiers come from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas; and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, from Vilseck, Germany.
Two hundred and thirty-seven soldiers with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10 tanks and four Bradleys are in Poland, Granger said in an email to Army Times. Another 99 soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team and 62 from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment are in Estonia along with eight Bradleys and eight Strykers; 162 soldiers from the 1st BCT along with five tanks and 10 Bradleys are in Latvia; and 103 soldiers from the 1st BCT and 62 from the 2nd Cav are in Lithuania along with eight Bradleys and eight Strykers.
The soldiers and vehicles taking part in Operation Atlantic Resolve have replaced about 600 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based in Vicenza, Italy, who were sent to Poland and the three Baltic states in April as a response to Russian aggression in neighboring Ukraine, said Capt. John Farmer, a spokesman for the 1st BCT.
"The 173rd had 600 [soldiers], but being a mechanized force, we have a larger logistical requirement for maintenance and support, fuel and things like that, so we have a few more than 173rd did," Farmer told Army Times on Thursday.
The troops are expected to be in the region through the end of the year, Farmer said. For Latvia, the exercise will mark the first time that their troops can train alongside M1 Abrams tanks.
"We're a very experienced mechanized force, especially in the 1st Cavalry Division — tanks and Bradleys and Paladins are our bread and butter," Granger said. "We are going to be doing a lot of small-unit squad and fire team training, but we will also do joint mechanized and heavy armor training as well. They've got their personnel carriers and we have our personnel carriers. We'll have the opportunity to run around in the woods and fire our rifles, but we'll also have the opportunity to interact within our actual combat vehicles with these guys."
