Washington, March 3 (AP): He barely had a week to prepare before marching with rucksacks and rifles on a plane bound for Germany — getting medical screenings, ensuring bills are paid, children. and arranging relatives to take care of the pet.
“It has been very busy and stressful, but overall it has worked,” Army Staff Sgt. Ricora Jackson said Wednesday she waited with dozens of fellow soldiers to board a chartered flight at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah.
They are among 3,800 soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division based at nearby Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia, ordered to quickly deploy to Europe and strengthen American forces following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. was given.
In total, the Pentagon has ordered about 12,000 service members in Europe from various US bases, with a few thousand already relocating overseas to other European countries.
The mission of troops abroad is to train in a display of force aimed at preventing further aggression by Russia with military units of NATO allies.
This is no different from the role played by the brigade last year during scheduled rotations in South Korea.
But Jackson, 22, a tank gunner from Pensacola, Florida, said the deployment felt different.
Although the US military is not interfering in Ukraine, that war has increased tensions in neighboring NATO countries.
“I’m a little nervous, but that’s okay,” Jackson said.
Major General Charles Costanza, commander of the 3rd Infantry, said the rapid deployment had a mixed effect on morale within the brigade, which was in the midst of training.
He said the younger, single soldiers are excited to begin their first mission abroad. But more experienced soldiers with families, who used to have plenty of time to prepare for the regular deployment calendar, have felt the disruption more.
“They were shooting artillery in the field when we got official word that it was time for them to leave,” Costanza said.
“Many of you have gotten married, or with a new baby, and this is their first time they’ve actually deployed without notice.” Costanza said soldiers and their families were told to expect deployment over the past six months, which could be increased – or perhaps shortened – depending on developments in Ukraine.
“There is no intention of any American service member fighting in Ukraine,” Costanza said.
“And they know it.” For Sergeant First Class Joshua Kooner, departing for Germany meant leaving his three daughters – ages 7, 5 and 3 – just months after returning home from South Korea.
Cooner, a 35-year-old tank crew and platoon leader from Fort Myers, Florida, said he was trying to keep 15 soldiers under his command, focusing on day-to-day training missions regardless of invasion and combat. Huh.
Cooner said, “When we talk about stress and being able to control stress, something I preach to our soldiers is to focus on the things that are within our area of control. “
Sergeant First Class Crystal Allen, who works in logistics, and her husband, a soldier assigned to a separate battalion in the 1st Brigade, were also leaving the two children at home.
The son and daughter of married soldiers were raised by Allen’s mother to live with them in Kentucky while their parents were stationed.
“I’m very honest with kids and I don’t lie,” said Alan, 35. “I tell them what I’m going to do and they accept it. I tell them where I’m going. And I present them like, ‘Hey, you need to stay with the nanny for a while.’ to be taken.’ And that’s enough for them.” Similarly C.P.L. Christian Morris’s in-laws were looking after him and his wife’s two dogs, an army medic, who was also going to Germany.
The 21-year-old soldier from Bend, Oregon, who works in a supply unit, said he would be happy to have his spouse near him, although they would not be together while stationed.
“It’ll just be, ‘Hey, if we have the chance do you want to get something to eat? Morris said. “It’ll be about the most conversations we’ll be allowed to realistically have.” (AP) VM VM
(This story has been published as part of an auto-generated Syndicate wire feed. Headline or body have not been edited by ABP Live.)