Posted on 11/28/2014 7:38:57 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Fort Carson's 4th Infantry Division will lead an American effort to bolster European allies and deter Russian aggression, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
The post just got a team of soldiers back from Germany where they led a NATO exercise, but the new mission is wider and will last longer.
"This is not going to be a three-week or a month deployment," said a source at the post familiar with the new mission.
The Army hasn't said how long the division troops will be overseas, leaving the deployment indefinite.
U.S. European Command said that a 100-soldier team from the 16,000-soldier division will head to Europe in early 2015 to lead ground forces in "Operation Atlantic Resolve."
"Operation Atlantic Resolve is a continued demonstration of the United States' commitment to the collective security of our NATO allies and support for our partners in Europe, in light of the ongoing Russian intervention in Ukraine," European Command said in a news release. "The operation will remain in place as long as required to reassure our allies."
Russia's eight-month intervention in Eastern Ukraine has heated up this month with reports of increased Russian military activity including more heavy tanks.
European Command boss Gen. Phil Breedlove has been traveling the region in recent days, including a trip to show support for Ukraine.
"The U.S. is committed to supporting Ukraine through this difficult challenge," Breedlove wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. "The international community is imposing ever-tightening economic sanctions on Russia in response to its illegal annexation of Crimea and their destructive military actions and support to forces in Eastern Ukraine."
The Fort Carson soldiers will play a role in deterring Russia by building U.S. ties to allies in the region including former Soviet republics in the Baltic.
Leaders from the division will run a series of training exercises to ensure American forces are ready to fight alongside partners.
Leaders at the post are still developing plans for how they will support the open-ended troop commitment in Europe. Exact dates of when soldiers will leave haven't been announced.
Fort Carson got the call as part of the Army's new "regionally-aligned forces" plan. That concept assigns U.S.-based units to overseas areas of responsibility. In the division's case, troops in Colorado Springs will get specialized training in European languages and culture.
The Army hasn't had a division headquarters stationed in Europe since the 1st Armored Division finished its move from Germany to Texas in 2011.
Pulling the 4th Infantry Division to rotate into Europe has long precedent. The division spent much of the Cold War training to deploy to Europe for battle. Starting in 1977, the division was periodically flown to Europe so its soldiers could train to fight with prepositioned gear they retrieved from storage depots.
The division has been redesigned in recent years and has fewer heavy tanks and artillery pieces.
The changes, though, left the division well-suited to European war, with infantry troops to tackle tough terrain, tanks to fight on open plains and eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles for urban battles.
I never wrote 'Putin'; Putin won't be around forever. Formulating American policy for the rest of eternity on the basis of a single leader is epic fail. It's already epic fail on the basis of what you coin 'blame America first' (I do not...only her defective leaders...and much of that comes from career a$$-hats in certain departments). Clinton had a historic opportunity and blew it on an epic scale...in hindsight much to the delight of some like you. When it occurred I postulated to friends that it was purposeful on the part of one of our agencies; I retain that view.
There is a logic that exists that the best way to fight a war is to not have one (deep subject...not elaborating...not sure you could grasp it) and, better, have someone else destroy your enemy for you. That logic seems lost on many in the West these past few generations.
Putin has rejected us and chosen his Communist Chinese comrades....only as a result of American policy. If the CIA had half a brain, they'd have turned the Russians against the Chinese long ago (at one time they were nearly at war, bonded only by a mutual ideology). But people like you that not only cannot read but like to metaphorically 'put words in my mouth' and want an epic foreign war to top the last round will see our Constitution doomed. As all a new round of crusades will do is solidify the power that those in charge have. They will cry for more 'security' and some, like you, may be wondering where our rights & freedoms went. I write 'may', as from my perspective people like you are as dangerous as the Progressives on the left that sow crises in their own right to justify and obfuscate their hidden agenda. War compromises American security when our interests are not directly threatened. Worse, it masks the economic malaise exacted upon us by continuing FAIL policies regarding our economy. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, the past 11+ years are a perfect example of history repeating itself in many ways. I, for one, am pissed off as hell that I was manipulated into supporting GW and 'those wars'. I'd be beyond extreme prejudice had my boy not returned.
I don't have a 'fantasy of uniting with Russia' (more of your word stuffing); but geo-politically-speaking, our best interests would be served to have the Russians and the Chinese at odds. We have driven Russia into China's arms. It's done. And future policies - if current is any guideline - will solidify that.
Gibberish is the garbage you wrote prior. Have your war and send your own friggin son/grandson and/or go yourself. I'll fight the epic battle here before it's all lost. A weak America can't fight crap, and weak we are (financially, socially, culturally & lacking leadership). As I see it, our government is recklessly tromping over the globe desperately looking for the next 'enemy', destroying relations with many countries as they go. First it was as a 'fight for Democracy' in solely-Muslim countries and now we seek to wade into another Eurasian conflict that is not only not in our interests, but as much in our sphere of influence as Mexico is to Russia. This will end badly.
I understand 'your kind' (as you put it) as well. You can have your opinion, but just admit you have an agenda which is ultimately war with Russia. While it is, IMHO, a most juvenile & reckless agenda, you would do well to craft your argument better...as you sound like you just read a Tom Clancy novel and can't differentiate between reality and fiction and, worse, are the victim of another grand manipulation. (ain't population-control just grand? /s)
I repeat: If there will be blood, it will be on the hands of those that support the machinations of this pathetic administration. Those machinations include a baseless war with Russia. There may never be an undoing the damage done by this administration and those in government that support it....
2. Your son is not a child, he's a man and he makes his own decisions. You won't stop him from going to war because you can't.
3. There is nothing we can do to stop the alliance between Russia and China. They have allied because they are both our enemies and so they will join forces to do whatever they can to hurt us. No amount of kissing Russian ass is ever going to change that, Putin or no Putin.
4. Confronting our Russian enemies is in our best interests. Capitulating to our Russian enemies who mean to do us harm is not in our interests and never will be.
5. If we have a war with Russia, those of us who insisted that we should prepare to defeat our Russian enemies will be proved right. Those of you who said we should bend over and beg our Russian enemies to be our friends will be shown for the Quislings you are.
1. Again with the ‘words in my mouth’. I never stated ‘wrong’ (I wrote ‘lied’). The wars were planned & prosecuted BADLY and, worse, the after-action plan did not consider ‘culture’. All we did was make the whole region unstable. After being involved in Iraq for over a decade, one would think our government might have had a clue; apparently not. We had a plan for post-war Japan & Germany; no such plan existed in a basis of reality for Iraq & AF. The proof is in repeating history in AF and the Iraqi failed State. I now see I’ve got another GW apologist on the hook. He approved all the shitty plans out of the Pentagon & State Dept. We can argue about it all day long, but if GW was so right about everything, he wouldn’t be sitting in his little cocoon stating, “I’m retired”, content to watch the country go down the tubes...
2. I know things you’ll never know and can never write here. Most have NO IDEA how bad morale is and how bad things are. If he knew then what he knows now, he would stop his buddies from dying for political points.
3. Nothing we can do NOW. Besides, we’re friends with China. /s Your harsh rhetoric on Russia is misplaced. Putin beats the bear’s chest as a show of force against China, their true enemy. At least they understand geo-political logic when it comes to a nearby enemy.
4. You’re nonsensical. That is a laughable Casus belli.
5. Putting words in my mouth again and name-calling. Lost the debate, you have.
Touche’.
It’s a pity we have to be so diametrically opposed on one stupid issue when we both have much the same views. An intelligent person would note that and wonder out loud how successful the Left’s tactics have been at dividing the Right...and continue to do so.
You can resort to your desperate name-calling and derogatory statements but it won’t change the fact that while I may not have all the answers, I’m not ‘wrong’. Your initial statement suggested we should hang our soldiers out there as ‘targets’; I take GREAT offense at that statement and was the motive for my first comment. Much MUCH MORE so than your pathetic, juvenile ‘traitor’ label on me (laughable, btw, and not very clever at that).
If you have more defensive, nonsensical rantings on Russia to try to convince yourself and others that you are anything but in left-field on this, please delay until the morning; you may be more help than you know...
Putin has not threatened China in any way. Putin has attacked America's allies Georgia and Ukraine completely unprovoked. Georgians and Ukrainians bled and died next to Americans fighting our terrorist enemies in Iraq. Russians didn't help us at all, they helped our enemies. The Russians armed our Syrian and Iranian enemies who helped insurgents kill our soldiers with roadside bombs. My rhetoric regarding Russia is not misplaced, your adoration for our Russian terrorist enemies is misplaced.
You’re really ‘something’.
Bush holds fault, but the same policy-writers are working under the Puppet. We were not winning in either war before the Puppet; the Puppet just doubled down on a bad situation...in BOTH: One with no security forces, the other with deadly ROE.
I never wrote that ‘Putin threatened China’; he’s not dumb. This is the ‘logic’ I alluded to prior: “Keep your enemies closer”.
We have been helping Russia’s enemies for decades. Tit-for-tat is a natural extension of cold war policies. Ukraine has been flirting with the west for years, much to their peril. Their involvement in Iraq was more about their own relations with Russia than being allied with the US.
I have no adoration for Russia. Your emotional hatred for Russia could be rational, but from my perspective of your demonstration here, not.
Russia has been helping our enemies for decades. Russia supports all of our enemies all over the world from Communist Cuba and North Korea to Islamofascist Iran.
You are either on the side of the USA and our allies, or you are on the side of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Make your choice.
No matter what you write, no matter your opinion, your inability to prostrate yourself with an apology for suggesting US soldiers are 'bait-worthy' is outrageous. Many have died for that document for just causes; many have died for naught. The latter is more than shameful; though THAT's not even treasonous (your prior slur was grossly misplaced). You appear so emotionally disjointed that all you see is only what you believe and repeatedly demonstrate either intentional ignorance or delusion when faced with anything contrary.
Again, I am appalled you both suggest US soldiers should be used as targets to further your own personal agenda and others' agenda and refuse to apologize for it. I can tolerate your indifference to another opinion, but not your indifference to our fighting men & women, past, present & future.
Don't do it for me; do it for them. Just do it.
I have nothing to apologize for, because I said nothing wrong. You are wrong, not me. You are the one who owes your fellow Americans an apology, not I.
I never wrote anything remotely resembling "appease". I am a Reagan Conservative and agree with strength in principal. However, you conveniently ignore your glaring lie. Where there's one, there are many. You use lies and ad hominem attacks to promote your agenda and your outrageous views, all without Casus belli still. The US is not 'strong' and deploying soldiers as sacrificial lambs is a pathetic footnote to years of military abuse. Our military lacks leadership and serves a major morale deficit. Nothing will come of a crusade to find/create/fight a 'new enemy' but disaster without fixing our problems at home. THIS is why Putin knows he can deal with HIS regional problems with little concern. Our weakness is the danger; you exacerbate that by suggesting we run 'caveman' to Europe in some desperate attempt to appear strong and resolute in the face of disgrace (our 'leadership' and economic weakness).
You can try to mask your outrageous statements with hyperbole, but most will see you for what you are, despite your other conservative views.
Pity you cannot be rational and/or logical. The 'caveman mentality' has no basis in War Theory.
And before you go off half-cocked in some lame response, understand the nonsense that you spew:
...because they know that to attack and kill US soldiers would cause the USA to retaliate and commit ourselves to war...US soldiers were attacked on US SOIL on a US MILITARY BASE and our government called it "Workplace Violence". Worse, while I admire Reagan in many ways, our soldiers were attacked in Beruit and the US turned tail and evacuated (I will never forgive that lack of action; it led directly to 9/11). There is no precedent for us to react to such actions against our military. Thus, they ARE 'bait'...a strategy of the weak-minded.
Russia’s customers are all America’s enemies. That is not a coincidence it is by design. Russia is our number one enemy in the world and stands behind every one of our other enemies.
It’s no surprise you want to turn tail and retreat from Korea as well as Europe, the Middle East and everywhere else in the world. And you have the temerity to call yourself a Reagan Conservative. No, you’re not. You’re the opposite of a Reagan Conservative. You want to undo what Reagan achieved and let the Communists take over Korea, the Russians take over Europe and the jihadists take over the middle East. Your ideas are way beyond stupid, they are treason. You could not be more of an advocate for all of America’s enemies everywhere in the world if you tried.
America is not weak. We are the strongest nation in the world. Russia is weak. Only with the help of treasonous pro-Russian Americans like you would Russia ever have any chance of defeating us, and only because people like you convinced us to give up and not confront our enemies.
Germany is America's enemy? The rest of the Euro, too?
Wow. Just WOW.
Just couldn't resist demonstrating that I'm right. So much wrong with your comments. Frankly I cannot argue with a jester. You are irrational, emotional, illogical and frankly quite batty. No wonder there's a trail of failed States in the wake of all that spilled US blood.
BTW, by not objecting, you acquiesce. Game/Set/Match.
CHECK YOUR MEDS! CHECK YOUR MEDS!!!
Russia sells weapons to all of our enemies because they are our enemy and support all of our enemies in the world. As far as Europe being Russia’s “customer,” Europe and Russia have just begun a trade war because of KGB Putin’s terrorist war crimes.
The reason you can’t argue with me is because you are completely and totally full of shit. You are not on America’s side in any way. You are a dirty, filthy, treacherous bootlicking Putinista, just like any other piece of Putinista trash on this forum.
If you love Russia and hate America so much, then go to Russia where you belong. Stop stinking up America with your treasonous lies.
If you could keep a coherent thought between 2 comments it might be possible to have a real argument. This is like arguing with a mental patient.
You’re not worth a zot, ranking just under the prairie dog poking it’s head. Ahhhh...you move me. Thank you, from the bottom of my bowels.
Flushed, you are...
Yes...yes they are. Worse, they more they open up the more they read/sound like Progressives...
If anybody would be zotted it’s somebody like you who is against the USA, against President Bush, for Saddam Hussein, for the Taliban, for the Ayatollahs, for KGB Putin, and for Kim Jong-Un.
All your kind eventually get the zot just like you deserve.
Bush apologist: Confirmed.
Explains everything. All Bush apologists resort to personal attacks when the debate is lost.
You were no exception...
This is FRee Republic. We supported President Bush proudly here, especially his foreign policies. Of course you wouldn’t know that because you just joined in 2012. You are not one of us, you are an outsider who came here to bash the USA, support our enemies and blame President Bush for Obama’s failures. We don’t need Obama apologists like you here supporting Obama’s filthy Russkie comrades.
Go Away.
I see.
From my personal experience ‘we’ is a small, vocal, emotional, lent-to-personal attacks clique, all of whom are incapable of debate without ad hominem attacks and, ultimately, resorting to name calling. I learned my lesson long ago, having bought into the GW-thing, and freed myself of emotional attachment to political leaders. I am -cynicus-.
Why don’t you grow a pair, Freepmail Jim Robinson and have him review my comments? I am SO sick & tired of being abused by those of you that would sooner shoot me than engage me for simply having a difference of opinion...too many times these threads resemble DU for all the hate-spewing against fellow-Freepers. Conservatives need to come together, but much of what I see here is a lot of divisiveness...mostly by a small cabal.
At least I accept others’ opinions when they differ from mine...to a point. That point being when you/they adopt the tactics of the Left and engage in ad hominem attacks.
As for the rest of your comments, I relent; you’re quite emotional. Had you engaged me with an iota of intellect and/or took even 30 seconds to read my comments you’d see how wrong you are about much of what you wrote accusatory of yours truly. But reading comprehension hasn’t been your strong suit in this thread, now has it? You’ve gone and totally convoluted a difference of opinion on foreign policy and perverted it with baseless attacks on my domestic views, simply because I’m not a Russia-hater. AND because I don’t salivate over GW. But that’s Ok; I could care less what you think at this point.
I reiterate my original issue with your comment about placing US soldiers in the firing line as tripwire/bait. I called you out on it. The rest of this has been an exhausting segue. I also repeat my prior comment:
If there will be blood, it will be on the hands of those that support the machinations of this pathetic administration. That includes sending troops into harms way in regards to a regional security issue that is Russia’s, not the US’. IMHO.
G’day! And please save any additional slurs for the morning (deuce races being over long ago now)...
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