Blake Hall
According to the Pentagon Monday, the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division is sending thousands of troops and hardware to the Baltic region to “reassure NATO allies fearful of Russian aggression”.
About 3,000 soldiers from the division’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team will follow approximately 750 vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment (tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery pieces and helicopters) that arrived via ship in Riga, Latvia Monday.
Along with Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, the U.S. soldiers are scheduled to take part in training exercises that will commence in May.
The combat team, based out of Fort Stewart, Georgia, will replace the U.S. Army’s Europe 2nd Calvary Regiment who’s has been training with NATO allies in the region since January.
The decision, as a whole, is part of Operation Atlantic Resolve — a U.S. Army-spearheaded mission that was formed last year when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region. Much of Eastern Europe is evermore fearful that Putin and the current Russian regime have a mind to go after them, and with good reason: they’re relatively new nations that were not long ago under Soviet control.