ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Russia’s large-scale military exercise slated for September doesn’t mean war is likely, but the Army and its European allies will remain poised at the highest level of readiness as if it were, said the commander of U.S. Army Europe.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said Zapad 2017—as the Russian military exercise is known—will take place in Belarus near the borders of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, a proximity that has some U.S. allies feeling understandably nervous.

The commander of U.S. Army Europe has unveiled an “informal shopping list” for European allies who want to help with common defense but not spend on weapons.

“Every president has said allies need to do more and I agree,” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said at a breakfast forum sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare in Arlington, Va.

The 2018 Army budget includes an almost 16 percent increase for the European Reassurance Initiative, with a goal of increasing U.S. troop presence and expanding partner-building capacity with new members of NATO and with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The increase is part of the overseas contingency operations account in the fiscal 2018 federal budget presented by the Trump administration May 23. The budget requires congressional approval.

April 4, 2017

Congressional testimony from the U.S. Transportation Command reveals why the Army is concerned about rapid deployment to Europe in a crisis.

April 4, 2017

A recent report warns that the U.S. and its European allies must refocus attention on beefing up broad warfighting capabilities in response to unrest in Eastern Europe and the threat posed by Russian aggression.

For the U.S. Army, that means increasing forward presence and countering Russia’s investment in key capabilities that “allow it to conduct decisive operations in regional conflicts,” according to the report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a nonprofit public policy research group specializing in national security issues.

Jan. 9, 2017

The largest U.S. Army armored brigade combat team to deploy to Europe since the end of the Cold War is underway, with convoys fanning out from Bremerhaven, Germany to training sites stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea for a nine-month rotation on the Continent.

About 4,000 soldiers of the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colo., arrived in Germany along with about 90 heavy Abrams tanks and almost 3,000 other pieces of rolling stock, including artillery and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, according to the Army.

After years of assurance aimed at maintaining European confidence in the U.S., “it’s all about deterrence” again, said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe/Seventh Army.

Hodges was the lead speaker at “An Ocean Closer: Synchronizing Actions and Words from the Baltic to the Black Sea,” an Institute of Land Warfare forum during the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

To make the fewer than 30,000 soldiers assigned to Europe look more like 300,000, U.S. Army Europe needs the Army National Guard and Army Reserve to train in the theater on a regular basis, the command’s top Guard leader says.

To that end, Army commanders in Europe are creating every possible training opportunity for Guard and Reserve troops, said Maj. Gen. John M. Gronski, who became U.S. Army Europe’s deputy commanding general for the Army National Guard on May 1.

The Army should permanently station an armored brigade combat team in Europe instead of rotating a team into the theater every nine months, Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti has told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.Scaparrotti, commander of U.N. Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea, has been nominated to become NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of the U.S. European Command.“I understand the challenges, in light of today’s resources,” Scaparrotti told the committee during his confirmation hearing.