FORT CARSON, Colo. — Operations are underway at Fort Carson to prepare for the mountain post’s biggest deployment to Europe since the Cold War.
Approximately 4,400 soldiers are headed to eastern Europe for a nine-month deployment, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.
They’ll bring along more than 2,800 vehicles, including 72-ton tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, containers, trailers and a few thousand firearms.
The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, began loading the first trains that will send a heavy brigade’s worth of equipment overseas in support of Atlantic Resolve, Army officials said on Facebook last week.
“The Army is now working to shore up North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies against rising Russian aggression,” the Gazette reported. “The centerpiece of that effort will be the 3rd Brigade, which will be spread across eastern Europe from the Baltic to the Black Sea starting in January.”
“The rotations throughout Europe will demonstrate the continued U.S. support of its NATO allies while simultaneously allowing Soldiers to bilaterally train with their foreign counterparts,” according to the Fort Carson Mountaineer.
The rail operations at Fort Carson will continue over the next month, Staff Sgt. Ange Desinor wrote in the Mountaineer.
“During our nine-month rotation, we’ll routinely exercise, mass and move throughout the European theater to refine our ability to maneuver an armored force across alliance member states,” the Mountaineer quoted Warrant Officer 1 Abraham Rosales, 3rd ABCT mobility officer, as saying.
Rosales said the plan is to move all the equipment to Poland within a couple of weeks of its arrival to Germany.
“The full set of equipment will arrive in Bremerhaven, Germany, and then move by rail, commercial line haul and military convoy to Poland, where 3rd ABCT will consolidate before dispersing units to Germany and across six other countries from Estonia to Bulgaria,” Desinor wrote.