First operational mission since WWII: U.S. airborne forces kilometers from Ukraine war zone

Stars and Stripes
December 20, 2022

Black Sea vantage point gives 101st Airborne troops closer view of Ukraine war

The 101st Airborne Division soldiers here are positioned close enough to Ukraine that their artillery is in easy range of the war-torn country and intelligence gatherers can monitor fighters buzzing around the Black Sea.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, deployed on the division’s first operational mission in Europe since World War II, functions as the most forward-based American unit in proximity to the fighting in Ukraine, military leaders say.

There are now about 5,000 soldiers along NATO’s southeastern flank, the majority of whom are anchored at strategic locations near Romania’s coastline.

…Romania has emerged as the centerpiece of U.S. efforts to deter Russian aggression in southern Europe, while Poland has emerged as the Army’s center of gravity in the north.

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“Our soldiers join the Army to do all sorts of things,” he said. “A bunch of them are eager. I’d say most of them are here to deploy. It’s not Iraq or Afghanistan, but they’re operating forward.…”

U.S. commanders in Romania emphasized that they are not on a “combat deployment,” but the mission carries with it a level of intensity unmatched when compared with the European troop rotations of recent years.

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In some ways, the war in Ukraine has given momentum to a Pentagon vision that dates to the early 2000s, when the U.S. sought to expand rotations in newer NATO states like Romania and Poland, the so-called “new Europe,” rather than hunker down in the “old Europe” garrisons of Germany.

From the 101st Airborne’s forward headquarters at the air base near Constanta, known by the soldiers as “MK,” the fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the Kherson region is about the distance from Washington, D.C. to Virginia Beach, Va.

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The 101st’s mission in Europe is essentially twofold: monitor events in Ukraine for potential spillover into allied countries and incorporate lessons from the war into how American ground forces fight, he said.