Wednesday May 7, 2014
What is it?
Persistent presence Land Forces Assurance Exercises are the first in a series of expanded U.S. land force training activities in Poland and the Baltic region taking place for the next few months and beyond.
The exercises, conducted by U.S. Army Europe Soldiers and host nation forces, are a demonstration of U.S. commitment to NATO and to the nation’s collective defense responsibilities through increased ground, air, and naval force presence. The intent of the supplementary exercises is to reassure NATO allies that the U.S. commitment to meeting the nation’s Article 5 obligations is unwavering. This action comes at the request of the host nation governments who have welcomed U.S. troops inside their sovereign borders.
What has the Army done?
U.S. Army Europe deployed a company-sized contingent of U.S. paratroopers from the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), to Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, roughly 600 Soldiers in all, to conduct expanded land force training in late April.
What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?
Through rotational deployments, including bilateral engagements and exercises to enhance interoperability, the U.S. Army forces in Poland and the Baltic region will maintain a persistent presence at least through the end of this year. These training events are in addition to previously scheduled multinational land force military exercises in the region such as Combined Resolve II in Germany, Saber Strike in the Baltic region, Rapid Trident in Ukraine, and Saber Guardian in Bulgaria.
The exercises are all part of the U.S. Army Europe annual training and exercise schedule designed to achieve the command’s strategic objective of enhancing security cooperation and interoperability within the European theater.
Why is this important to the Army?
The Army has a duty to demonstrate America’s land force commitment to NATO and U.S. collective defense responsibilities. A persistent presence and rotational training in Europe helps to reassure our allies as it builds the Army’s ability to function in joint, multinational, multiservice and interagency environments, and sets the conditions for creating effective coalitions.
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