{"id":46184,"date":"2022-02-25T22:30:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T22:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/02\/25\/thousands-of-us-troops-deploying-for-first-ever-nato-response-force-activation-amid-russia-attack\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:35:01","slug":"thousands-of-us-troops-deploying-for-first-ever-nato-response-force-activation-amid-russia-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2022\/02\/25\/thousands-of-us-troops-deploying-for-first-ever-nato-response-force-activation-amid-russia-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of US troops deploying for first-ever NATO Response Force activation amid Russia attack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many of the 7,000 U.S. troops activated Thursday<\/a> in response to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine will join up with multinational troops as part of the NATO Response Force\u2019s first deployment in its history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those troops will head first to Germany, the Pentagon said, but could spread out as NATO determines where they\u2019re most needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are grateful to our allies Canada and the United States for their recent commitments to deploy an additional 7,460 troops, including an armored brigade combat team, artillery units, a naval frigate, and surveillance aircraft, to support this Alliance-wide effort,\u201d Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, both the head of U.S. European Command and the supreme allied commander of NATO in Europe, said in a Friday statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All told, between 10,000 and 12,000 U.S. troops have been put on heightened alert to deploy, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told Military Times on Friday, though he could not be more specific, leaving roughly between 3,000 and 5,000 troops still stateside and in the queue for mobilization should more troops be committed to Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most recent, 7,000-soldier slice includes 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Georgia, as well as some artillery and transport units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will be at least partially committed to the NATO Response Force, Kirby said, but those details are still being worked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd I don\u2019t have an exact breakdown of what is going to be going as a part of this NATO Response Force package because again, we\u2019re still working our way through that,\u201d Kirby said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t