President Biden has a lot to be proud of as he returns from the NATO summit in Vilnius
War footing. Those are the two words I heard from sources in Washington D.C. as President Joe Biden returned from Helsinki, Finland on Friday. Member states of NATO are described as being on a war footing following the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, this week. Although the news out of the NATO summit all week was dominated by a squabble with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over when his country will be invited to join Europe’s military alliance, the news shifted dramatically on Thursday when the Pentagon announced that Biden had authorized a call-up of 3,000 reservists to active duty to support U.S. military operations in Europe. The reservists will be put on full active duty status with full pay and support from the active duty military. The Pentagon also announced that families and dependents will receive support if any of the 3,000 reservists end up being deployed overseas. So far, however, there are not yet plans to have the newly-activated reserves join the 20,000 American troops who were speedily deployed to European stations after Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.
Speaking on the latest commitment from U.S. forces, Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “This reaffirms the unwavering support and commitment to the defense of NATO’s eastern flank in the wake of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine.” Sims said the 3,000 reservists called to active duty will give “greater flexibility” to the Pentagon’s European Command, even though it will not change the overall force structure of U.S. troops in Europe.
Also this week, Biden ordered Operation Atlantic Resolve, the formal designation for the U.S. strategy in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to become a contingency operation. This change in designation will allow the Pentagon to activate reserve forces without a new order from the White House. It will also “speed up acquisition authorities to supply those troops with equipment,” according to a report in Politico on Thursday, the U.S. now has a total of 100,000 troops on duty at a spectrum of stations across Europe, including Navy, Air Force, and Army bases in places like Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Great Britain, and Poland. Many U.S. forces have been involved over the past six months in training Ukrainian battalions headed for the front lines. 10,000 American troops are currently stationed on a rotating basis in Poland to provide logistic support and training for the Ukrainian military.
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You may not have any electricity, but your brain is powered up! I had no idea about the reservist situation until I read this. It also brings to mind a feeling I usually keep to myself: Biden may be drastically unpopular, but he just keeps on keeping on, doing what he believes to be right based on a lifetime in politics, that slimy mold universe. He’s made HUGE mistakes, decisions, etc., the worst of which was when he supported Clarence Thomas when he was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I still can’t forgive him for that. Nonetheless, his resolve on Ukraine, his infrastructure policy, and his commitment to the average working person during covid are three examples of his returning the common man or woman, wherever they live, to the forefront of the Democratic party.
Good to see the continuing resolve.
Just got back from small towns in Europe; so many showing flags of support for Ukraine in their windows. Reminded that civil war or invasion in the homelands is a couple of generations back at most, it's not hypothetical.
Here in the states, few serve and we can't even imagine hostile troops in the streets, bombs in our cities.
I suppose that feeds the conservative inclination to make it Ukraine's problem and not everybody's problem. (Plus myopia, callousness, and a failure to read history, of course).