Minks? Minks? We dun got no steenkin' minks.
Posted on 10/05/2014 10:34:40 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
The "Ironhorse" armored cavalry unit, with around 700 soldiers, some 20 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks with Bradley and Stryker armored fighting vehicles started to deploy in the three Baltic States and Poland.
Censor.NET writes about it, referring to Zn.ua.
Considering the level of armament, it is one of the most formidable U.S. military forces sent onto former Soviet soil. Besides, the U.S. military says it is the first time it has had to ship armored reinforcements to Europe since the end of the Cold War
On Wednesday, October 1, a ship delivering to Latvia American tanks and infantry fighting vehicles arrived to the port of Ventspils. However, it was not unloaded until last night.
Unloading of military equipment also began in the town of Tapa (Estonia).
(Excerpt) Read more at en.censor.net.ua ...
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Such a tiny force is pointless. I can already see the red Freepers saying this justifies a Russian invasion.
Minks? Minks? We dun got no steenkin' minks.
This is good news.
“Ironhorse” is 1st Sqdn, 11th ACR out of Fort Irwin.
Poopin will pass this off as the precursor to an attack on Russia.
Yep. That’s right.
Forward stationing of NATO forces is a strong statement, not pointless.
It's a trip wire, much as the Cold War-era US force in West Germany was only supposed to slow the Russians down. Its principal use is as a sacrificial lamb. A Russian attack on that force theoretically means Russia is at war with the US, triggering the transport of hundreds of thousands of US troops and associated equipment to the theater of war.
It is part of Putin’s win win gambit.
He allows the EU/Nato to chase him away from Ukraine while performing needless acts in the third curcus ring. Thus, thy appear as winners.
Meanwhile he consolidates his hold on his win, the prize...... Crimea
Meanwhile, any maniac who wants to do the US harm just needs to walk across our southern border or fly in from an Ebola-infested country.
Crimea is not viable for Moscow without a land bridge to Russia through eastern Ukraine, so Putin will have that, too. The NATO exercise in the Baltics has no bearing on events in Ukraine, but it makes for a good show. Tomorrow will bring new problems of its own, and right now I’m more concerned about the increasing radicalization of Turkey than anything Russia might do.
You really want to start WWIII over Estonia???
Which, BTW has almost 40% of its population as Russian.
That is the hill you want to send thousands of Americans to their deaths?
Well, hope they got a discount on shipping by using the equipment from Afghanistan.
It is a little premature for us to surrender and pull out of NATO isn’t it?
Are you so Obamaized that Russia has already chased us out of our NATO alliance?
Old Sarge,
Unfortunately this “Iron Horse” is 1st Bn, 8th Cav, 1st BCT, 1st Cavalry Division from Ft. Hood. It is a combined arms battalion with 1 tank and two mech inf companies.
Others have thought it was the old llth ACR squadron, but alast, it is not.
Additional info:
The unit is 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry. https://www.facebook.com/pages/2-8-CAV-1BCT-1CD/130679013617883
2-8 Cav in 2002 was organized as a tank battalion.
I found a posting that it is currently a “combined arms battalion”. If it is deploying with only 20 Abrams tanks, then it must be organized as an infantry battalion heavy “Combined Arms Battalion with 2 infantry and 1 tank company.”
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigade_combat_team#Combined_Arms_Battalion
Right now the Army is in the midst of cutting units and re-organizing units to meet the bh0 cuts to Army strength.
When I was in the old 3rd Armored Division’s Divisional Cavalry Squadron, 3-12 Cav, we had 36 tanks (M60A3), 12 per troop, 50 x M113s & ITVs and a 4 M577s
the traditional divisional cavalry squadron has been replaced by the Reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) battalion. It does NOT have the combat capability of the Cold War ear divisional cavalry squadrons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconnaissance,_surveillance,_and_target_acquisition_(United_States)
Organization of 1st Combined Arms Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division is at:
http://www.hood.army.mil/1stCavDiv/pages/units/1bct/default.aspx
Also, the 1st Cavalry Division, in which I also served, the battalions were traditionally organized as either infantry or tank battalions and were named “cavalry” to keep the lineage and honors of the old cavalry units alive.
The Kurds could use these items!
Interesting. I remembered Ironhorse from my days with the 11th, but wasn’t aware 2/8 also claimed the name.
Big Army was doing that back in the 80’s, taking tank battalions and naming them “Cavalry” to keep the traditions alive. Tenth Cav was like that before Fort Knox went admin.
When I was with 1/3 ACR (Desert Storm era), they had three troops, one tank company - four tanks per troop, fourteen in the company, total of 26 M1A1’s.
Those were the days...
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