Oct. 7 (UPI) — U.S. Army troops participating in Europe’s Atlantic Resolve mission in Eastern Europe will rotate beginning Thursday, U.S. Army Europe announced.
Troops and equipment from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, from Fort Hood, Texas, will replace the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, of Fort Riley, Kan., which has served in Europe for the past nine months.
The port of Vlissingen, Netherlands, will serve as the offloading site for the Texas brigade’s equipment and personnel.
The rotational deployments are part of a mission which, since 2014, brings U.S.-based Army units to Europe. The rotations of armored, aviation and sustainment are overseen by the 1st Infantry Division (Forward), a regionally aligned headquarters based in Poznan, Poland.
The goal of Atlantic Resolve is building readiness, increasing interoperability and the enhancement of the bond between 16 partner nations’ militaries through multinational training events. About 6,000 soldiers participate in Atlantic Resolve at any given time.
“These deployments of ready, combat-credible U.S. forces to Europe in support of Atlantic Resolve is evidence of the strong and unremitting U.S. commitment to NATO and Europe,” an Atlantic Resolve statement said.
Recent deployments include the 10th Mountain Division, of Fort Drum, N.Y., to Lithuania, and U.S. soldiers recently participated in multinational exercises in Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
“I think what you’re going to see in the next year is we’re going to move to a joint concept,” Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, Army Futures Command deputy commanding general, told a European Policy Analysis panel in Washington, D.C., in September. “It’s how we’re going to fight in the future.”
