Posted on 10/01/2014 12:53:10 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
U.S. troops and tanks will deploy across the three Baltic states and Poland in the next two weeks on a mission designed to deliver an unmistakeable message of NATO resolve to Moscow.
The "Ironhorse" armored cavalry unit, with around 700 soldiers, some 20 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks with Bradley and Stryker armored fighting vehicles, is one of the most formidable U.S. military forces to be sent onto former Soviet soil. Several of the bases and training areas it will operate from were built for the old Soviet Red Army.
The aim is to convince Moscow that - unlike in non-NATO Ukraine - any Russian interference in Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia would put it at war with the Western alliance.
All three countries were once part of the Soviet Union and analysts say Moscow would dearly like to reassert its influence there, particularly in ethnic Russian areas.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
If there becomes a war with Russia you can thank Ukraine for starting it. Everything was quiet until they overthrew their government.
I hope so. But with our CIC, I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
And depending on non US security sure worked for our facility in Benghazi........
Well, we found out that electing a dope-addled, Affirmative Action Nancy boy with the
management skills of a 14 year old girl as president isn’t the way to go.
11’th Armor 20 tank speed bump! Need a squadron of A-10’s for close air support and a squadron of F-22’s capping everything.
NATO flies combat jets over the Baltics already.
BS
Who, and how many? 2? 2,000?
If they have it so well covered, why send tanks from the US?
Ukraine has done a bang up job securing their airspace.....wait, no they haven’t.
Battalion Donbas cmdr: we're setting up training centers all over #Ukraine to prepare to wage a guerrilla war against Russian occupation— Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) September 30, 2014
Russia isn’t ready for a major war—not yet. They are just vacationing US servivemen now. They can drink some excellent Beer, buy a few dolls and scarfs and have fun rolling over the country side as peasants wave and smile at them.
It also happens to be about the same as the line that the Nazis used as pretense for annexing half of Europe.
Hinckley,
The article does not say that it is the cavalry squadron, only that it is 1st Brigade Combat Team of 1st Cavalry Division.
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
Yes a “combined arms battalion” of 2 mech and 1 tank company.
See my post # 38
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.
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