{"id":18523,"date":"2022-03-03T20:56:09","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/?p=18523"},"modified":"2022-03-03T22:46:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T17:16:02","slug":"u-s-troops-rush-to-europe-amid-war-after-russia-invades-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/03\/u-s-troops-rush-to-europe-amid-war-after-russia-invades-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. troops rush to Europe amid war after Russia invades Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In all, the Pentagon has ordered about 12,000 service members from various U.S. bases to Europe, with a pair of thousand more already stationed abroad shifting to other European countries.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had hardly a week to schedule_ getting medical screenings, making sure bills would be paid, arranging for relatives to care for kids and pets before marching with rucksacks and rifles onto a plane bound for Germany.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been very hectic and stressful, but overall it\u2019s worked out,\u201d Army Staff Sgt. Rico Jackson told Wednesday as she stayed with dozens of fellow soldiers to board a chartered flight at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. forces in Europe after Russia invades Ukraine <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re among 3,800 troops from the 1st Armored Brigade of the Army\u2019s 3rd Infantry Division, based at nearby Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia, ordered to deploy quickly and bolster U.S. forces in Europe after Russia <\/a>invades Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, the Pentagon has ordered about 12,000 service members from various U.S. bases to Europe, with a couple of thousand more already stationed abroad moving to other European countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldiers\u2019 mission overseas is to teach alongside military units of NATO partners in a display of force aimed at deterring further aggression by Russia<\/a>. It\u2019s not that separate from the role the brigade recreated last year during a planned rotation in South Korea.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But Jackson, a 22-year-old tank gunner from Pensacola, Florida, told me this deployment feels different. Although U.S. forces aren\u2019t intervening in Ukraine, that war has increased tensions in neighboring NATO countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little worried, but it\u2019s OK,\u201c Jackson told. Maj. Gen. Charles Costanza, the 3rd Infantry\u2019s commander, said the rapid deployment has had a mixed effect on morale within the brigade, which had been preparing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Younger, single soldiers, he said, have been excited to embark on their first mission overseas. But more professional soldiers with families, operated to a routine deployment calendar with plenty of time to organize, have felt the disruption more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were in the field shooting gunnery when we got the official word that it was time for them to go,\u201d Costanza told. \u201cYou have a lot of them married, or with a new baby, and it\u2019s their first time to do a no-notice deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costanza told soldiers and their families were told to expect the deployment to last six months, which could be extended _ or perhaps shortened _ depending on developments in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThere is no intent to have any U.S. service member fight in Ukraine,\u201c Costanza told. \u201cAnd they understand that.\u201dFor Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Cooner, departing for Germany means leaving his three daughters ages 7, 5, and 3 just a few months after he returned home from South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 35-year-old tank crewman and platoon leader from Fort Myers, Florida, Cooner said he\u2019s trying to keep the 15 soldiers under his command focused on the day-to-day training mission without dwelling on the invasion and war that prompted it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomething I\u2019ve preached to my soldiers about when we talk about stress and being able to control stress is to focus on the things that are in our sphere of control,\u201c Cooner told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sgt. 1st Class Crystal Allen, who works in logistics, and her husband, a soldier assigned to another battalion in the 1st Brigade, were also leaving two children at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The married soldiers\u2019 son and daughter had been picked up by Allen\u2019s mother to stay with her in Kentucky while their parents deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, read <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n