About 200 commanders and senior enlisted leaders met at the U.S. Army Europe Headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany to attend the USAREUR Summer Commander's Conference Aug. 24-26. The conference was hosted by Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, Commander of U.S. Army Europe, in order to bring the commanders and senior enlisted leaders from throughout Europe together.
The U.S. Army Europe summer commander's conference is a semi-annual opportunity for USAREUR commanders and senior enlisted leaders to discuss operational, readiness, and other key issues to enhance the understanding USAREUR's strategic vision.
"We have to assure our partners, we have to deter Russia in the east and that's really the change that we are making; it's the relationship with them, the posturing of our forces, and the training that we do," said U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe and head of U.S. European Command.
One of the major topics was the status of operations in Europe after the NATO Warsaw Summit, and the Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.
"Today we have a considerably different environment with a revanchist assertive Russia, as opposed to a partner, we have got the issue of terrorism," said Scaparrotti. "And then we have to refugee issue, so it's a considerably different and challenging environment here in Europe today.
Hodges added the importance of USAREUR Soldiers capitalizing on the NATO alliance to face these challenges.
"Over time we can make great progress," said Hodges. "The (NATO) alliance deters Russia. They know that we have 28 nations and 25 partner nations on top of that that are working together.
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About us: U.S. Army Europe is uniquely positioned in its 51 country area of responsibility to advance American strategic interests in Europe and Eurasia. The relationships we build during more than 1,000 theater security cooperation events in more than 40 countries each year lead directly to support for multinational contingency operations around the world, strengthen regional partnerships and enhance global security.
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