DoD Announces Operation Atlantic Resolve Brigade Rotation
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2014 – The Defense Department announced today the next scheduled unit rotation as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which a Pentagon spokesman said continues to demonstrate U.S. commitment to reassuring its NATO allies.
Army Col. Steven Warren told reporters that about 600 soldiers from the Fort Hood, Texas-based 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, will rotate to Poland as the next unit to participate in the reassurance initiative.
The brigade will be the next unit to take part in ongoing land forces exercises that fall under the umbrella of Operation Atlantic Resolve, he said.
The United States is demonstrating its continued commitment to collective security through a series of actions designed to reassure NATO allies and partners of America's dedication to enduring peace and stability in the region, in light of the Russian intervention in Ukraine, officials said.
"These units will replace the paratroopers of U.S. Army Europe's 173rd Airborne Brigade 'Sky Soldiers,'" Warren said, "who have, since April, been participating in multinational training with U.S. allies in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. These land training exercises, which came at the request of host nations, help foster interoperability through small-unit and leader training."
Warren noted the "Ironhorse" soldiers who will replace the 173rd Airborne Brigade will participate in the theater rotation exercise for about three months.
"They are bringing training equipment," the colonel said, "to include infantry fighting vehicles, cavalry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, M-1 Tanks, engineering equipment and other equipment organic to U.S. cavalry units."
"A combination of our resupply efforts to the [Kurdish] Peshmerga [fighters]," he said, "and our airstrikes in and around Mount Sinjar have absolutely had an impact on ISIL's ability to place direct fire on those [internally displaced citizens] on Mount Sinjar."
The Kurdish security forces' activities, along with U.S. airstrikes, have slowed, if not, stopped ISIL's ability to continue inflicting direct harm on the people who fled to the mountain to escape the ISIL terrorists, Warren said.
"We are continuing to apply pressure to the ISIL forces in the region by conducting very targeted airstrikes on their positions," he added.
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