That's not a "new" deployment, rather a recap of where troops have been "deployed or extended" since this conflict began a year ago. I'm reading Austin's anniversary statement as a show of power-of-position, not as the Twitter account translated it into 20K more troops are going there now.
Edit- Furthermore, Austin states that the 20K are in Europe, with some on the NATO flank - "...Meanwhile, the United States has deployed or extended more than 20,000 additional U.S. forces to Europe and forward-stationed the first permanent U.S. forces on NATO's Eastern Flank. ..."
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A brief search online shows the only new deployment being 200 soldiers to Taiwan to train. Am I mistaken on this??
They could have ten guys "forward-stationed" with NATO for all I can tell from this. How do you get he's now sending an additional 20K to Ukraine from what we're reading here?
Meanwhile, the United States has deployed or extended more than 20,000 additional U.S. forces to Europe and forward-stationed the first permanent U.S. forces on NATO's Eastern Flank.
Read it carefully, anon. This is Austin's anniversary statement which outlines what's been happening, from a military perspective, over the past year. Yes, 20K additional soldiers have been sent TO EUROPE over the past year AND the military has forward-stationed some permanent troops on NATO's flanks. It does not say that there are 20K new troops on those flanks. See my links in another comment, below, which discuss deployment.
And check back as OP u/BigMikesSaggyBaggins is searching for more deployment info. This is, obviously, extremely important to be keeping a finger on the pulse of this. OP was right to bring this forward as it could signal something nefarious and downright critical, but the cited tweet from War Monitor may have jumped the gun and sensationalized what was just a statement of strength. I don't know what's truly occuring, but it's important to read carefully what Austin actually said, specifically, and not take a leap over the precipice if we're not there yet.
It's an anniversary statement. "Since this conflict began a year ago, this is what we've done..." Like a military state-of-the-union yearly address. LOL on the flags. 😏
20,000 troops is an extraordinarily small number of troops to move if you’re ramping up for a world war. 20,000 a week certainly wouldn’t even be close to enough.
That's not a "new" deployment, rather a recap of where troops have been "deployed or extended" since this conflict began a year ago. I'm reading Austin's anniversary statement as a show of power-of-position, not as the Twitter account translated it into 20K more troops are going there now.
Edit- Furthermore, Austin states that the 20K are in Europe, with some on the NATO flank - "...Meanwhile, the United States has deployed or extended more than 20,000 additional U.S. forces to Europe and forward-stationed the first permanent U.S. forces on NATO's Eastern Flank. ..."
.
A brief search online shows the only new deployment being 200 soldiers to Taiwan to train. Am I mistaken on this??
.
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/02/us-sending-up-to-200-troops-to-taiwan-to-train-for-attack-from-china/
See my edit. He's not even saying the 20K are at the Ukraine front, just that they're in Europe. How many soldiers do we normally have in Europe?
I’m confused what the plan is for both sides here though? I mean a kinetic war between these powers equates to millions of lives…
They could have ten guys "forward-stationed" with NATO for all I can tell from this. How do you get he's now sending an additional 20K to Ukraine from what we're reading here?
From here Probably
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3308639/statement-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-marking-one-year-since-rus/
Read it carefully, anon. This is Austin's anniversary statement which outlines what's been happening, from a military perspective, over the past year. Yes, 20K additional soldiers have been sent TO EUROPE over the past year AND the military has forward-stationed some permanent troops on NATO's flanks. It does not say that there are 20K new troops on those flanks. See my links in another comment, below, which discuss deployment.
And check back as OP u/BigMikesSaggyBaggins is searching for more deployment info. This is, obviously, extremely important to be keeping a finger on the pulse of this. OP was right to bring this forward as it could signal something nefarious and downright critical, but the cited tweet from War Monitor may have jumped the gun and sensationalized what was just a statement of strength. I don't know what's truly occuring, but it's important to read carefully what Austin actually said, specifically, and not take a leap over the precipice if we're not there yet.
It's an anniversary statement. "Since this conflict began a year ago, this is what we've done..." Like a military state-of-the-union yearly address. LOL on the flags. 😏
20,000 troops is an extraordinarily small number of troops to move if you’re ramping up for a world war. 20,000 a week certainly wouldn’t even be close to enough.
You are right hes only outlining everything that the United States has done so far and the 20000 troops is part of that.