The first armored brigade, division headquarters, division artillery, and fires brigade will be in Europe by the end of 2017. Additional equipment will continue to arrive through 2021 when there is expected to be enough equipment and ammunition to support a division-sized force.
This is on top of the airborne and Stryker brigades forward deployed plus a battalion task force and a rotational brigade committed to Europe.
Recall that notwithstanding the Russian whining about the NATO threat that it wasn't long ago that the Army had no tanks at all in Europe, so confident were we that peace had broken out all over Europe.
This isn't quite the corps I've long wanted in Europe (see my article which is third in the table of contents) in addition to heavy equipment in Poland in a REFORPOL concept (like the old REFORGER in Germany).
One, I don't know where the equipment is going. It might be Germany. It should be mostly in Poland with perhaps some in Slovakia.
But combined with the equipment, we will have 6-1/3 Army brigades in Europe for all practical purposes.
And I think we have a brigade's worth of Marine equipment in Norway.
I wonder if the British might join America in putting equipment in Poland? Might Germany, too, although they could road or rail their troops in rather than fly them in. Although if the Germans take the lead in crushing the Russian Kaliningrad enclave in case of war, just being based in Germany is probably just as close to the potential area of operations.
I don't want Russia to be our enemy. We have enough problems. So do the Russians. Perhaps our areas of cooperation are limited. But why be each other's biggest problem to the advantage of China and others?
But Russia gets a vote in this, too, and they keep voting the straight asshat ticket. So more American armor goes to Europe.
