Stars and Stripes
March 8, 2023

Army 10th Mountain, 101st Airborne division soldiers deploying to NATO’s southeast flank

Elements of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division are deploying to Europe to replace a 101st Airborne Division team that has been operating out of a strategic hub in Romania for the past nine months, the service said this week.

Besides the 500-soldier 10th Mountain headquarters, nearly 4,000 soldiers from the 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky., will replace that division’s second brigade.

“The Mountain Division is no stranger to deployments across the globe...,” Maj. Gen. Gregory Anderson, commander of the 10th Mountain Division, said in a statement Tuesday.

…Last summer, President Joe Biden ordered a rotational brigade to Romania, the first such mission of its size in the region.

In the past, most Army rotational brigade combat teams were dispatched to Poland….

“The Bastogne Brigade is ready to assume the critical mission of assuring our NATO allies and deterring Russian aggression on NATO’s eastern flank,” Col. Kevin Sharp, commander of the 1st BCT, 101st Airborne, said in the statement.

***

Currently, about 100,000 U.S. troops are carrying out missions in Europe, up from the roughly 80,000 [in February 2022]

The 101st units were initially ordered to Romania in June. They operated mostly out of Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, which serves as a hub for the Army in the Black Sea region.

During their time in Europe, 101st soldiers have been tasked with monitoring events in Ukraine….

“The (new) deployments will ensure that the United States continues to be well-positioned to provide a robust deterrent and defensive posture alongside our allies across the European continent,” the Army said in its statement.