U.S. Army Europe
April 15, 2015
Four things ‘Strong Europe’ provides for the Army
By Amy L. Haviland
FORT EUSTIS, Va. — The commanding general of U.S. Army Europe provided a unique opportunity for professional development when he spoke to Soldiers and civilians at U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s headquarters here April 13.
During the discussion, presented by TRADOC’s Army Capabilities Integration Center, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges offered his insight on the importance of “Strong Europe.” This term is all-encompassing and is used to define USAREUR’s contributions – on behalf of the Army – to NATO, U.S. European Command and other combatant commands.
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One way the Army is building these relationships — and providing a presence — is through its contributions to European Command’s Operation Atlantic Resolve, which began in 2014.
“Atlantic Resolve is a series of continuous exercises that stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and has a continuous presence of American Soldiers, who are either based in Europe or are part of the rotational force,” Hodges said.
This year, Operation Atlantic Resolve includes 24 multinational exercises of battalion-size or larger, such as the exercise currently going on in Hohenfels, Germany, that includes Soldiers from 17 different countries.
Hodges said these exercises have become “the new normal” in Europe, and not only demonstrate the Army’s commitment in providing landpower to combatant commanders and NATO’s supreme commander in Europe, but also in providing assurance to U.S. allies.
“Our allies are going to continue to need to be assured that we are there, and nothing says commitment like American Soldiers standing there with them,” he said.
The USAREUR commanding general described a very recent example of this commitment and the people who showed their support for the Army. March 21 marked the start of Operation Dragoon Ride, a 1,100-mile road march through Eastern European countries that lasted close to two weeks.
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