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.
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.