US to send combat troops to Poland

American Thinker ^ | April 19, 2014 | Rick Moran

[neverdem]

Poland will breathe a little easier because at the very least, American troops in Poland will be an effective trip wire and hedge against Russia making a move to reclaim the former Warsaw Pact country.

Washington Post:

Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Siemoniak said the decision has been made on a political level and that military planners are working out details. There will also be intensified cooperation in air defense, special forces, cyberdefense and other areas. Poland will play a leading regional role, “under U.S. patronage,” he said.

But the defense minister also said that any immediate NATO response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, while important, matter less than a long-term shift in the defense postures of Europe and America. The United States, having announced a “pivot” to Asia, needs to “re-pivot” to Europe, he said, and European countries that have cut back on defense spending need to reverse the trends.

“The idea until recently was that there were no more threats in Europe and no need for a U.S. presence in Europe any more,” Siemoniak said, speaking through an interpreter. “Events show that what is needed is a re-pivot, and that Europe was safe and secure because America was in Europe.”

How likely is such a reversal on defense spending? Siemoniak said there was widespread support at a recent meeting of European defense ministers. “Now they’ll go back to their presidents...

[MeshugeMikey]

all he lacks is the Minstrel Blackface...and hes got a whole new career ahead of em/

[KoRn]

If they are taking this big step, it had better damn well be a credible military presence, and not a few hundred troops to be used for a photo-op and eventual target practice for the Russians.

Not only would it be a slaughter, it would also be a monumental embarrassment, most likely leading us to WWIII. The potential for a modern day ‘Pearl Harbor’ comes to mind.

[jmacusa]

The Russian Army isn't the Iraqi Army as it was under Saddam. They're a large, modern equipped army with a large air force. God forbid if there were ever a conventional war between them and us. It would be a blood bath and we would take a hell of a pounding.

[Hoodat]

So Poland is where we draw the line? Where have I heard this before?

[Westbrook]

We owe the Polish for standing with our military while the rest of the Europeons bailed on us.

[Dagnabitt]

Estonia sent combat soldiers to Iraq. Suffered a few KIA too.

[Westbrook]

> Estonia sent combat soldiers to Iraq. Suffered a few KIA too.

Thanks, I didn’t know that. They deserve our help if needed, too.

[RitchieAprile]

they will pay in their own blood, as they have before.

[RitchieAprile]

I suspect that the deployment has more to do with signaling Putin not to misinterpret and move into the Baltics.

Though, I wonder how an invasion of Estonia by Russia could be resisted by Nato without resorting to nuclear weapons.

[Grzegorz 246]

Hi Boris. Welcome to FR.

[Mouton]

The poles are definitely not girly men. Badasses for the most part.

Cue up a picture of Gene Hackman as Maj. Gen. Stanislaw Sosabowski from the movie A Bridge Too Far.

[Mouton]

and a bunch of IRBMs to back them up.

[Mouton]

When JFK was starting the Vietnam war, he sent in 16,000 troops, I don’t recall the Wash Post ever calling them “combat troops”.

No, they were advisors. Today they can send in a LBG unit
and call them diversity advocates.

[Candor7]

We should not be sending US troops to Poland.

Send some Germans, that should put fat into the fire, for that was the plan when we closed down all those US NATO basis in Germany, the krauts were supposed to fill in for US as needed.

[Cronos]

Not really. Not yet. I live here and its not yet ready. Perhaps a central european alliance of countries from Finland and estonia down through Latvia, Lithuania, poland, Hungary, czechia, Slovakia through to Romania and Bulgaria as a third entity between western europe and rossiyai

[a fool in paradise]

Why is Obama going to war against Poland?

[GailA]

Military Waste and Fraud Continue In the Middle of the Government Shutdown HERE IS YOUR PROBLEM : PALM GREASING

Washington’s Blog lots of links
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/10/wasted-military.html

http://www.reuters.com/investigates/pentagon/#article/part1

Mugging the Military
http://www.ijreview.com/2012/06/9466-mugging-soldiers/

Mugging our Troops
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/pentagon/#article/part1

Pentagon Outlines Increased Tricare Fee Proposal
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/03/05/pentagon-outlines-increased-tricare-fee-proposal.html?comp=7000023317828&rank=1

0bama to Force Military Families Away From Tricare ...By Tripling Their Fees. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.”

CBO: The military is getting squeezed for domestic spending cash
http://www.humanevents.com/2014/02/26/cbo-the-military-is-getting-squeezed-for-domestic-spending-cash/

We are TRICARE LIFE and new DOD MANDATE as of 4/14/2014 we have to get our scripts from Base or that crappy Express Scripts.

YOU WILL LOSE YOUR PHARMACY THANKS TO NEW DOD BUDGET MANDATE!

This is a Prelim letter, we don’t even know at this time which drugs are going to be on the list. Waste of money to not send out the full thing. WHAT is SAFE when your meds come in the mail unsigned for, you have lots of kids in your neighborhood, meth makers on the look out for stuff, or just drug dealers?

1 Transfer your medication from a retail pharmacy to safe, convenient Tricare Home Delivery and pay less out of pocket! A typical cost for a 90 day retail supply is $51 but only $13 for Home Delivery.

2 Ask your doctor about using a low cost generic that is not among the medications included in the Pilot Generics can still be filled at retail for $5

3 Transfer maintenance medications under the Pilot from retail pharmacy to a military pharmacy. Call your local military pharmacy to see if they have you medication

4 Continue to get you selected maintenance medications at a retail and pay 100% of the cost of the medication starting with your third refill.

If you refill your selected maintenance medication’s at a retail pharmacy after March 14, 2014 you’ll get letters from the Tricare Pharmacy contractor Express Scripts, Inc about switching to Home Delivery. Remember, starting with your third fill you will be responsible for 100% of the cost of the medications if you chose to continue to obtain them at a retail pharmacy.

If you have other health insurance with a prescription benefit, you do not fall under the Pilot. There will also be a process to obtain waivers on a case by case basis, due to personal need or hardship, emergency or other special circumstaces-0 such as living in a nursing home. After participating in the Pilot for 1 year you may opt out.

CBO: The military is getting squeezed for domestic spending cash
http://www.humanevents.com/2014/02/26/cbo-the-military-is-getting-squeezed-for-domestic-spending-cash/

State Side Tricare Service Centers Closing April 1
http://m.military.com/daily-news/2014/01/14/stateside-tricare-service-centers-closing-april-1.html

Tricare PRIME
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20130802/BENEFITS06/308020011/DoD-silent-major-changes-Tricare-Prime
2 links
Starting Oct. 1, the Pentagon plans to reduce Tricare Prime service areas to within a 40-mile radius of active or former military installations, forcing 173,000 retirees and their family members to switch to Tricare Standard or seek a waiver if they live within 100 miles of an existing network.

The decision will affect retirees and their dependents in Prime, and those on Tricare Young Adult Prime. That totals 98,771 people in the Tricare South

Air Force MiCare
http://www.military.com/military-report/air-force-micare?ESRC=miltrep.nl

DoD silent on major changes to Tricare Prime
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20130802/BENEFITS06/308020011/DoD-silent-major-changes-Tricare-Prime

Proposed TRICARE FEE CHANGES
http://www.military.com/benefits/tricare/retiree/proposed-tricare-fee-changes.html

Express Scripts Extortion Scheme Widens
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/09/express_scripts_breach.html

Express Scripts complaints
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/rx/express_scripts.html

ES Customer Service ranking
http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Express+Scripts

Express Scripts RIP OFF
https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/express-scripts

ES buys out Medco
29 Billion
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20120402/NEWS/304029961

[Redmen4ever]

I did say potential.

The reason Poland-Ukraine is significant is that together they would cut the European peninsula off from Russia.

As to whether the handful of lesser countries amount to anything: As it is, these small nations - realizing that they couldn’t defend themselves anyway - have almost no militaries at all. No tanks. No modern warplanes. Excuse me, the Slovak Rep. has 17 T-72s and 6 MIG-29s.

NATO requires member nations to spend 1 percent of GDP on defense, which most of them cheat. This leaves a weak alliance, unable to defend itself. Even if the member nations spent something like the U.S. percent of GDP on defense, only the frontline members would care much about a Russian attack.

We could theorize about reforming NATO so it becomes as asset rather than a liability to the free world. But, in the meantime, helping Poland and Ukraine develop their potential and also developing the infrastructure to move oil and gas from North America to Europe, would give us leverage in bargaining with Putin.

[Bender2]

Re: US to send combat troops to Poland

Just so not one single person doubts my courage and guts, I have sent our finest to Poland... and they are on the way!

Driver? Driver!

How soon do we... get to Warsaw?

Really, Phil, the President must be crazy... to send us way over here!

Look at... this country--

Look... Look!

And you cannot get a signal... worth a damn here either!

So, tell all, far and wide, as far as I am concerned... if the Poles like their country, they can keep their country!

[SevenofNine]

Bender honey I doubt Obama know where is Poland is