 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the next presentation by U.S. Army Europe, Strong Europe. To serve shoulder to shoulder, training together, exercising together. So you're sending a powerful message that NATO, including the United States, will defend all of our NATO allies. As NATO allies, we stand together. We stand as one. So it is really important to work with other nations together, as close as you can, and even before an operation starts. We represent U.S. commitment to the alliance. I mean, U.S. Army Europe, 30,000 soldiers forward stationed in Europe. And then the Army's contribution is above that because of the rotational force capability that comes over and other exercises that will attract other units. What we've described the environment as the future is, it's going to be a very complex environment. It's going to be a multinational environment. Change is very quickly. So when you take a look at the United States Army Europe, it's almost custom-made to do that. I mean, it's right here in the middle of a very complex part of the world. Every day they work with multiple partners. They're working in multiple domains. We're in Cameroon, Africa, in March. We were in Estonia when Operation Atlantic Resolve first kicked off. We were there for two months. And now we're here in Latvia, moving to Poland at the end of the month. So a great opportunity to get some unique experiences. We have a lot of missions that are going on here in Yusera. In order to accomplish those, we expect our young captains, our young first sergeants, team leaders, platoon sergeants, all to be actively engaged, to be empowered to conduct that mission. That young troop commander is a senior U.S. Army officer who is planning an 1,836-kilometer road march back through four countries over a period of two weeks. I mean, what an incredible opportunity is we're enabling this on us. As part of the state partnership program, when the National Guard deploys forward to Eastern Europe, they bring capabilities that augment what we have in Europe as well as continuing to develop relationships in our allies as they train together. The operations our soldiers do in here have a profound effect on the security of the American people and of our coalition partners, especially those here in Europe. We're representing not just 173rd or 191. We're an actual representation of the U.S. Army. And the guys understand that, and we are here and ready to go. To meet new security challenges, we're adapting, using a new playbook, an approach that is both strong and balanced. NATO allies are only growing more united. There's a bus right outside. After watching that video, I know you all want to go get on the bus. It'll take you to Dulles. We'll fly right into Frankfurt Airport, and you'll be ready to report for duty in strong Europe. So I'm ready for you. We've got the best installation command director right here, Mike from Micah, so you've got a great place to live and train as well. All right. So what we're going to do, and we'll talk to you about how we see the current security environment in Europe, why the United States Army is in Europe, what we're doing. The main thing I want you to remember is that we have 30,000 soldiers in Europe right now. When I was a lieutenant 100 years ago, we had 300,000 soldiers mostly in West Germany. The mission when we had 300,000 was to deter the Soviet Union and assure our allies. Today we have 30,000. The mission is to deter Russia and assure our allies. So our task is to figure out how do you make 30,000 look and feel like 300,000. Five pillars to do in that. And I'm going to take you through those five pillars with the help of a great team over here. Now, I love it whenever you can get a sailor. Admiral Stavridas, go back. Whenever you can get a sailor to say nothing is good as troops stationed full-time on the ground. It's where all the people live on the ground. Okay, next slide. Just to kind of set the stage, when you think about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, their illegal annexation of Crimea, it changed the security environment in Europe. Even though nations along the southern part of Europe and maybe the northern part of Europe have other concerns, refugees, Islamic State, economic problems, all 28 nations of NATO agreed that Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea was unacceptable to use force to change European boundary border with force, unacceptable in 21st Century. So all 28 nations of NATO at the Wales Summit last September agreed that the alliance had to adapt and we had to give our political leaders other options. And we also had to increase number of exercises to assure those allies that live closest to the border. Now, this little piece of land right here is called Kaliningrad. I'm embarrassed to say that two years ago I didn't even realize it. That's actual sovereign territory of the Russian Federation. They have invested so much capability in there that they can deny access if they want to of anybody up into the Baltic Sea. They've got the same thing in Crimea, more than 25,000 troops there as well as any ship capability. So the two flanks, Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, the Russians have the ability if they want to to deny access there. Snap exercises they've been conducting over the past two years. Massive amounts of troops, equipment, moving long distances. They have demonstrated a powerful ability to move a lot of people real fast, significantly reducing our warning time. They use nuclear. They talk about Denmark as a nuclear target, Sweden, home of ABBA as a nuclear target and Romania as a nuclear target. So that's in the back of people's mind. So the risk of them making a miscalculation that countries over here will not be willing to come up here if they were to launch an attack of some sort because of little green men, cyber attack, it's not really clear are those Russians, what's going on? And it only takes a couple of days for them to seal off what is known as the Milwaukee Gap, about 95 kilometers between Kaliningrad and Belarus. And of course, you just saw the announcement of Russia making an announcement that they're going to have a base in Belarus. So it creates a difficult strategic problem. It's not a likely scenario, but all the capabilities are in place, all the conditions are in place unless the alliance can stick together. The number one deterrent to misbehavior about Russia is our great alliance, the most successful alliance in the history of the world, not perfect, but the most successful alliance in the history of the world and the EU sticking together thanks to great leadership by the Bundeskanzler from America, we have a chance to deter them from trying this. The key is to have capability and demonstrate that capability. And that's where our 30,000 soldiers come in with all of our allies. Next slide. So I mentioned how do you make 30,000 look and feel like 300,000? Five pillars. None of these by themselves will be a surprise to any of it because I suspect most of you are trying to do the same thing. Number one, it starts off with empowering junior leaders. In order to stretch our 30,000 soldiers, I have got to put a lot of responsibility on young captains. I talked to a female company commander the other day. She's a Black Hawk pilot. She was grinning from air to air. She said, sir, I am a thousand miles away from my battalion commander. She's an aviator. So that means all the responsibility for safety and maintenance of those Black Hawks are on her very young shoulders. The second pillar, access to the Army Reserve and the National Guard. Without the state partnership program, I'd be completely lost. 22 states matched up against 21 countries. That's the only thing that gives us persistence, U.S. presence in many of the countries of Eastern Europe. Army Reserve, you know almost all the logistics and the engineers of the Army are in the reserve component. The third pillar, allies and partners. You saw in the video that wonderful M3 bridge that's a German bridge. The Brits have the same bridge. We have no bridges that can hold an M1 tank in Europe. So we discovered that the Germans have a fantastic bridge and so you saw us there crossing the Vesa River near the city of Minden where the 130th engineer battalion, thank you, runner, is located. Also, the Hungarians and Romanians have bridges that can hold an M1 tank. We have no Hetz, that wonderful truck that carries an M1 tank. Zero. The U.K. has 40 of them. So that's how we move our tanks around. The fourth pillar is a regionally allocated force. Without the Great Fourth Division, we'd have no division headquarters. And we need the same division to stay focused on Europe so that I know that they got the right maps on the wall. People understand they know who the ambassadors are in all these countries. Same thing for the heavy brigade that comes over, rotational aviation battalion. Without the rotational aviation battalion, I wouldn't have enough helicopters just to move me around the battlefield, let alone all the more important troops that we're using. And then finally, dynamic presence. That means saying yes to everything. That means being a part of 51 battalion level exercises this year alone, everyone a multinational. And with that, let me turn it over to our great command Sergeant Major, Sergeant Major Cheryl Lyon. Thank you, sir. I'll be honest with you. I'll tell you straight up. I never liked to follow the general Hodges because he always speaks so well. So you never want to follow greatness. I learned that a long time ago. So it is very hard to speak about one pillar without speaking about all of them because they are so well integrated in the way that we do it in the United States Army Europe. So, but my job today is to talk about how we empower our young leaders. So we consider a user to be a leadership laboratory. And then from that laboratory, we empower our junior leaders. They thrive in a complex environment. You saw from the video some of the things that they are required to do. So they have to think on their feet. They have to be adaptive and they have to make sound decisions on the spur of the moment. So our young leaders are expected to operate in an environment of distributed operations. And that's from the Baltics all the way down to the Balkans and to the farthest points east in Europe as well as to the West. So under these varied conditions and the varied cultures that our soldiers find themselves in, our young leaders encounter unique challenges on a daily basis. Those challenges that they face are hard to replicate anywhere else in the world other than in Europe or in a joint environment that we find ourselves in. It's the perfect environment for developing our young leaders and our non-commissioned officers and our soldiers on a daily basis. So often our junior leaders, as the general said, serve as the senior U.S. representative on the ground. They are as a young captain or as a first sergeant. They are the first person that is encountered by some of our allied nations. So that puts a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility upon our junior leaders. But I will tell you that they have risen to the challenge. They do an outstanding job. Up in Bremerhaven, Germany, we have a young staff sergeant and a young sergeant first class who are the only two individuals up there where there are civilian counterparts who are bringing in and distributing the equipment that comes into and out of Germany, be it for the 4th ID or any of our other partners that work with us. So they do an outstanding job and they are accountable to the embassy, to the port authorities, and to the other local national authorities that are required to get that equipment in and out. They pride themselves in what they do and they take a great consideration of how well they do it because they are representatives of their country. We also have the representatives of our movement control teams who are located in embassies throughout our area of operation. There's a lot of them. Those are specialists and staff sergeants who are assuming the responsibility on a daily basis for making sure that our troops and our personnel move in and out the way that they're supposed to, so providing that freedom of movement necessary. Our junior leaders also are unable to develop professionally. We need our junior leaders to be diverse and adaptable and making those sound decisions in that high stress situation. And our young leaders are quite capable. They're most the intelligent leaders that we have had in the United States Army since I've been in and that's been a couple of years. So the 44th signable Italian, they have commo teams spread out within 19 countries at the last count and those 19 countries, those teams are composed of 3D2, 3 to 10 members each and sometimes the highest ranking person on that team is a sergeant who is representing the United States Army wherever they might be. We also enable our junior leaders by allowing them to reach their full potential and what do I mean by that? And that's within their perspective scopes of duty since they are deployed throughout our AO, they communicate with our allies and our partners and they take the initiative to lead and participate in training events all throughout Europe. This is evidenced by young first lieutenants, Nacquan and Gosta, who planned and executed the first ever joint training with a French foreign-linguit lead gen, I'll say it in a minute, in Corsica no less. So that in itself, planning and training is hard enough within your own United States footprint but take into account all the requirements that they have to meet someplace else in another country be it safety, their state laws, regulations, they take all that into consideration. So our young leaders are empowered to take on roles of increased responsibility. They act as LNOs within the various countries that we work with with our partner nations and our allies. For instance, I think the general Hodges mentioned it that one of our, I won't say one, we've had a number of our company commanders who are the only ones on the ground who are the senior official who are greeting and being greeted by ambassadors from that country that they happen to be in. So they present themselves well as true professionals and we have empowered them to be able to do that and they understand the impact of what they are doing. So empowering our junior leaders, it allows them to become confident in their capabilities and what they can do in making Europe strong. It also enables our alliance and our partners as we train together to build that level of trust that enables us to accomplish the mission. Thus assuring and detouring and enabling the alliance. And I'm going to be followed by Major General Gamble for the second pillar. Good afternoon. My name is Dwayne Gamble. I'm the 21st Theater Sustainment Command General and I'm one, I'm thrilled to tell you that. Two, I'm very, very proud to be in that position. I've been in that position for about a hundred days. So I've got a taste of what strong Europe's all about. I'm a believer and if the bus is truly outside, I'd highly recommend getting on the bus because it's a great place to serve and we got some challenges and we need everybody's help to overcome them. So the second pillar that I'm going to talk to you about is the greater use of the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. And so I underscore greater because we're using them to great effect today. But we do need to amplify and increase that support. And so what I'd aim to tell you in the next couple of minutes is first, why we need to have a greater use of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. I'd ask you to tell you, I'm going to try and convey to you what that is, what we imagine that to be and then maybe the most important piece is why we believe that. And so the in order to or the purpose of the greater use of the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. So first and foremost, if you have, you read the, anybody read the Army operating concept, raise your hand. So if you haven't read, it's a great document. It describes a future, right? A future environment in which we must develop an army to operate in over the next 10 years, 10 to 15 years. So if you read that and you understand a little bit about what users do and you may come to the same conclusion that I've come to in the 100 days I've been there, that the assigned forces in user and the regionally allocated forces in user are living the Army operating concept today. We have dispersed operations that commands our major line described to you over long lines of communication that are equivalent to going from Maine to Florida. So we're pushing repair parts from Maine to Florida once a week in order to maintain combat readiness. So we're doing that in a very dispersed environment that mimics or starts looking awful like that future environment in which we hope to build an army to operate in. So what's unique about Europe is that we're doing that today with the force structure we have today. So we are operating in that environment with the Army we have today. And we're going to continue to do that. And the only way we're going to be able to do that is with the increased use of the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. And so why is that important? And why am I, maybe, if not the best choice to talk about that, then at least the logical choice? Because 75% of our sustainment and our total Army is in the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. It's in the reserve component. And if we have to, we cannot go to war as an Army without the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. I think our founding fathers and our designers of our Army meant it that way. And so we cannot sustain operations at the pace we're going without increased use of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. So what kind of forces are we employing today? We're employing movement control teams. We're employing engineers to help build ranges, to help build capacity in our allies and our partners. We're employing staff elements. We have a fairly good employment of forces across the scope. The purpose, why do we need to do this? Because, you know, in reality, we might be able to keep up the pace, right? We might be able to continue to do what we're doing to deter aggression and to assure our allies. But without the greater employment in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, we'd be unable to achieve the decisive action level of readiness that our new Chief of Staff of the Army so eloquently described in every speech he's made here at AUSA. He's described that our number one job, there is no other number one, is to be prepared for combat readiness. And we simply cannot do that without employing all elements of our Army in our area of operations and practicing that while at peace and practicing that while we meet the demands of the COCOM. We also are obligated to set the theater, right? Prepare the theater for the eventuality of a contingency operation or the activation of an O-plan. And some of those enablers that are required to set the theater and to open a theater are only in our Army Reserve and Army National Guard. So one is a theater transportation opening element. Every one of those in the United States Army is in the Army Reserve. We absolutely need that capability to open a theater. And unless we practice that here in peacetime, we'll never be prepared to do it more. So we do need, in my mind, to have a greater use of the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard as we strengthen our allies and deter aggression. So the next person I'll be followed by is a great teammate and an ally. But most important, a great teammate for your General Laventhal. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Brigadier General Marc Laubenthal. I'm the Chief of Staff of the United States Army user. The first time that an international officer became the Chief of Staff in the U.S. Army headquarters in Europe. And with a couple of other international fellows, I'm living the dream of being integrated in U.S. Army headquarters. And I'm integrated all my life, I would say. My last appointment, I have been the Brigade Commander, 12th Panzer Brigade in Bavaria, partnered with the Second Curry Regiment in Filsack. I took my brigade to Afghanistan as my fellow commander took his regiment to Afghanistan as well, to Kandahar and I to Mazar-e-Sharif. So I was the Chief of Staff in Mazar-e-Sharif then for 17 nations in regional Command North. So I lived the dream of being integrated all my military life. What I would like to do is to divide my pitch into topics, intervability and enabling the alliance. So why does intervability matter? The U.S. Army operating concept recognized that we will never fight alone, like no NATO nation will ever fight alone. Therefore, it is absolutely vital and important also in peace time and you heard me saying that in the video that we work closely together as integrated as possible. Let me briefly highlight how and why we do that. User-error lives into mobility not only in exercises but also in day-to-day operations. My fellow 20 colleagues in headquarters in Wiesbaden or in the units in user-error providing strategic access. They are just one phone call away from their land force commanders that makes it really easy and effective to coordinate resources and to learn and understand about our allies training and readiness requirements. Increased mobility with our allies is very important for success. All U.S. forces train and live this kind of intervability in our world-class joint multinational training command in Grafenwehr and Hohenfels, also in Bavaria, located. JMTC operates NATO standards and it's an enabling hub to improve intervability between allies and partners. Be it tactics or NATO standards, be it secure voice and data communication or be it blue-force tracking or be it simulation systems. In the video you also saw many examples how allies enable user-error to achieve strategic effects for the alliance when we utilized allied assets. So it's not unusual to find American tanks transported on British heavy-equipment transport tracks or crossing the river via German or Hungarian bridges. And currently we are using a Slovenian tank platoon in the JMTC as part of our op-for. Another good example, I think, is the Second Country Regiment's Dragoon Crossing of the Danuba River on Hungarian tactical bridging assets just the months before. Switching to my second point, what does user-error to contribute to strengthening the alliance as part of the NATO Collective Defense? Our US-European Command's Operation Lanig Resolve has resulted in 50 battalion-size or greater exercises just this year, as General Hodges alluded to. They are varying from the Baltic to the Black Sea. It's a span of almost 2,000 kilometers. But that's not all of them. Here are some other examples which got significant attention in the recent weeks and months. In August, we proved our capabilities in the exercise so-called Swift Response 15. That was the US Army's largest combined and airborne training event in Europe since the end of the Cold War. Almost 5,000 airborneers from 11 NATO nations, including Germany, took part in that exercise in Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, and Romania, aiming to integrate all the multiple allied nations into a cohesive team, which was a great success. On the way to the Warsaw Summit, we are currently participating in the exercise tried in juncture in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. That is the greatest, largest NATO exercise in 13 years, approximately 36,000 NATO soldiers participating from all the NATO states. It is a very critical milestone to demonstrate the allied joint capability and responsibility. And lastly, close to the Warsaw Summit, we are going to participate in the Polish exercise Anaconda 16. Now a regionally allocated forces, the Force Infantry Division from Fort Carson, together with other brigade combat teams critically enablers, as well as the global response for the 82nd Airborne, will participate in that exercise. They will mass global land power and capabilities on short notice. And this is the strength and speed matters to assure and deter. Lastly, I would like to highlight what we are doing to enable NATO headquarters. So the United States tripled its commitment to the multinational core of the Northeast in Chechnya and also provide personnel to the NATO force integration units, which are critical to deploy NATO forces into the border countries and Poland. In the video, you saw many other examples and all what you can, I think, get out of this, is that this strong commitment is a very effective way to enable the alliance to improve interobility and to show the U.S. commitment to the alliance. I will be followed by 4ID commanding general, Major General Ryan Gonzales. Sir, thank you. I am the fourth pillar. My name is Ryan Gonzales. I'm the commander of the Fourth Infantry Division and the senior mission commander out at Colorado Springs at Fort Carson. Once again, it's a regionally-allocated force, just the division headquarters. And so, once again, it kind of confuses people because my other four brigades are allocated to CENTCOM, so, or NORTHCOM. Once again, it's just the headquarters. So I have an element forward with General Hodges right now in Grafenwehr, Germany. It's called the mission command element. And so, really, it's my tack forward. I have between 95 and 100 soldiers in that mission command element at all times. And so, we've been there since February of last year. We had Randy George, Mike Tarza, and now Tim Doherty leading that organization. And I've put in that organization anywhere from 25 to 30 of my G2 folks, so my ace is established in Europe. And so, the reach-back capability from the intel perspective I have at my foundry and at my headquarters at Fort Carson. We're trying to get Russian linguists, so everything that we do at home station is tied to Europe. Same thing with my G3. I have a G3 forward and a G3 rear. I have planners not only in the mission command element anywhere between four and five at one time, but I also have two planners currently in the use for headquarters. Planning for future type of operations tied into UCOM. Same thing with the G4, the G6. I have all the G elements forward in this element. And so, how do you maintain that for two years? Well, what we're doing is some of the key leaders, about a third are the key leaders that have to have the continuity at all times. And they'll remain for six months in Europe. For the other two thirds, we're rotating them every four months. And so, we're resetting their dwell and they come back. Some may have multiple rotations into Europe. And currently, we're going to be resetting ourselves from Graphenvir to Baumholder by the 26th of October in preparing for a visit from the Chief of Staff here shortly. So that is the mission command element. And so, what does General Doherty do every day? Well, he's not only working with General Hansen's assigned units, 2CR and 173rd, but he's also working with the rotational units. And currently, it's first brigade, 3ID. We're working exercises. He's working with country teams. He's working with CHADS. He's supervising the equipment activity set, which is a brigade set now. He's working to make sure that we've got all the maintenance issues, not only with General Hansen's assigned units, but also with the EAS brigade set that we have. Eventually, we'll have another brigade set in theater that we'll have to manage as well too. So we'll work very closely with the 21st TSC. But some of the initiatives we're trying to work right now is trying to align some of my other brigades in the division to Europe. So we have that continuity at all times, because it is rather difficult to take rotational units and still have our imprint from a 4ID on it. So the Army's working pretty hard on that. General Hansen's working very, very hard. We want to make sure, though, that we are able to be that intermediate headquarters for General Hodges. And so right now, we don't have op-con of those forces, because they're still assigned to General Hodges, but it's almost take-on. And we're working through the command relationships with all his organizations. But right now, it's working very well. And we're able to work issues for General Hodges that, since he has no division headquarters in Europe anymore, General Doherty is able to reach back into me, get decisions, and we'll either get force-com action or we'll get General Hodges to go back up to U-Com to gain action. So it's working very, very well. We don't know how long we can last doing this type of activity. We think two years is where we're at. But once again, as we rotate our folks, we work with HRC, we'll develop a concept that I think will work in the very near future that we can pass on to another division if they get tasked for that request for forces. But that's the mission command element in a nutshell. And it's working darn well. And yes, I have two bosses, the three-quarter commander, but I also have General Hodges, and I think it's working out pretty well. I think we're supporting his organization to the best that we can. Sir, that's all I've got. I'll be followed by General Hodges. Sir. Okay, Iron Horse, great job that they are doing for us as our division headquarters. And so that Brigadier General Doherty, we're talking about powering down and powering junior leaders given what his duties are. And Brigadier General Doherty is responsible for everything that happens on the ground from Estonia to Bulgaria. Everything the U.S. Army is doing in Europe is under Brigadier General Doherty as our mission command element commander. Now, the concept for the mission command element, if you think back to the days when we, to move a division headquarters division tax to 15, 20 C-17s, hundreds of generators, and miles and miles and miles of concertino wire, you just heard it. 90 people could feel it right here. And with reach back, that's how we're making it work. So I think we're helping the Army learn the way that the Fourth Division has approached this mission. Last slide I'm going to show you. So you went too fast for me. Don't worry about it. This shows you, this is the 51 exercises that have happened this year alone, each one of these that are at least a battalion size or larger, the U.S. is involved in every one of them, all multinational. Again, part of what we call the dynamic presence to make that 30,000 look and feel like 300,000. So just a couple of takeaways I want to leave with you and then I look forward to any questions that you might have. First of all, the Army is way too small. I mean, we're having to do this because the Army is not big enough to do what it has to do. There's no way that any congressman is going to agree to taking 5,000 troops out of Fort Hood and putting them back in Wurzburg or Swanford. It's not going to happen. Aviation Restructure Initiative, three aviation brigades came out of the Army structure including 12th Combat Aviation Brigade in Europe. Two years ago, Russia was our friend. They were a partner. And so I guess if I was making decisions two years ago and the Army was having to slash the way it had to, maybe taking it out of Europe, maybe it was the best choice or the least bad choice at the time and you can't undo those choices. So if we're not going to grow, then our task is make 30,000 create the same effect as when you had 300,000. It's all about speed. Speed of recognition of what the Russians are doing because they're not going to do us a favor of lining up in a column of tanks. That would be too easy. Instead, they're going to lead with information. They're going to obscure what it is they're trying to do. Little green man, intimidation all along the border before it ever happens. And then as they've done in repeated snap exercises, moving thousands of troops before we realize what's happening, they potentially have isolated the Baltic countries from the rest of Europe. Our job is make sure that doesn't happen. And so by having sufficient capability and if we can do all five pillars, then I'm confident that we'll be able to provide that not only assurance but deterrence. But if we don't have all five pillars, then I think we'd run a serious risk. And by the way, everything that you just saw was paid for by ERI, European Reassurance Initiative, contingency funding. Base budget will not cover anything that I just described. All right, with that, the bus is still outside. If you want to get on it and come on with us and help make Army Strong Europe, that's our contribution. And I look forward to any questions you have and it's really hard. I will bring in the Chief here. So who has a question? Sorry, Lieutenant Colonel Matt Neumacher. I had a question about, so 30,000, trying to look like 300,000, getting that effect. So the Russians are doing that to try to, to a certain extent, inoculate us. And the antibody that you're trying to provide through the five pillars, do you see any of that manifesting itself in Russian thinking? How they're changing their tactics? How they're changing, they're doing their exercises and their pillars to try to counter what you're doing in Europe. Okay, so part of what they're, I am sure that their number one objective is to tear apart the alliance, to put doubt in the mind of Latvia or Estonia, that Portugal, Canada, the US, Italy, Germany will recognize what's happening and agree that this is an Article 5 or an Article 4 type situation. I'm sure that's their number one objective. Their other objective is to tear apart the EU because the EUs sticking with the sanctions against Russia are just as important as the alliance sticking together. So even though if you look on the back of the map that you've got there where it has several of the snap exercises they've conducted, you see the size of those, every single thing that we do is immediately proclaimed as provocative, unnecessary, threatening. So putting 150 soldiers in Estonia is somehow a big, threatening move. Now these are 150, these are bad dudes, but it's 150, it's 150 people right here. Okay, but that's characterized by the Russians as a provocative move by the alliance. So what they would like to do, obviously, is cause Germany to say, ooh, you guys settle down, these exercises are too big, or if they can get France to push back against that number one, that pulls up the fiber of the alliance and it also prevents us from demonstrating the capability that we have to deter. And then that causes the countries, I think, that are closest to Russia, their anxiety level starts going up as well. So we've got, that's the way they have reacted, I think that's the most concerning. I think, you know, going into Syria was all about not only securing their foothold but also to distract attention from the fact that they're still sitting in Ukraine. They're still in the Donbas and they are, of course, 25,000 troops in Crimea which is sovereign Ukrainian territory. General Korf. Lieutenant Rynikov, Deputy Chief German Army. General Hodges, if you were the master of all the operations, those activities are based on that what had been decided on Wales Summit. What would you expect from Warsaw Summit in a few months later? Sir, thank you. The most important thing, I think, that'll happen at the Warsaw Summit is an affirmation of what was agreed to at Wales, that the alliance is sticking together, that the EU is going to stick together and that all the full implementation of the readiness action plan are implemented. VJTF, which German Netherlands Corps has been a real leader there, the NATO force integration units, the enhanced mission of multinational corps northeast, continue on the path there, each of the nations continue to make progress towards improved investment in their own defense. That, to me, will be the most important thing that happens at Warsaw is that we've stayed the course unless Russia has significantly changed its behavior. Sir. Excuse me, General Farmer's retired army. Listening to the pitch today, I noticed that here in Konus we're getting ready to jack up Edries and Cedries in an effort to improve our deployment capabilities. Then listening to the 4th ID Commander and to you today with the forward deployment options. What's the feasibility of NATO putting together some kind of a game plan financially to begin again the assembly of the reforger exercises to practice what you're beginning to put together? Sir, thank you. That's a great question because it points out the challenge of avoiding a provocation. Is it sustainable? And does it reflect, does reforger reflect what you heard Secretary Carter's voice a strong but balanced approach? So there is a strong desire to avoid getting back into a full to gap kind of mentality. But the need to practice the movement, of course, is right. So the exercise that General Aventon talked about, swift response where you had 18 airborne corps and a brigade of the 82nd flew over, jumped in here. We're going to do that again next summer in Poland or an exercise anaconda where we will bring over the heavy brigade, the GRF, global response force as well. So we do have to practice that the next time that the heavy force comes over in the spring they're going to be on the clock. How fast can we draw the equipment out and practice that as well? So we're walking the line a little bit between that. Yes. By the way, while she's handing the microphone I want to point out Colonel Jen Icoff and Command Sergeant Major Burnley over here. Y'all hold your hand up. See Commander and Command Sergeant Major the 10th AA Army Air and Missile Defense Command out of Germany, that's our Patriots but also she is the commander the land commander for the entire European air and ballistic missile defense system as well. So if you've got an interest in that she is dynamite, you want to talk to her. Sir. Yeah, Wayne Gardner, I'm a retired Marine. On the northern flank you have two neutral countries Finland and Sweden. They are also part of that Nordic brigade along with Norway. I don't know if Denmark's in it or not. If the balloon goes up, what kind of plans do you have of incorporating the Norwegian and Finnish forces? Well sir, you know of course Sweden and Finland are not NATO countries but they both have exceptionally capable military. I was in Finland and Sweden this past earlier this year watching them. They're very well equipped. They have excellent mobilization procedures a lot of capability there. When Russia denies access into the Baltic Sea that obviously impacts Sweden and Finland as well. Russian Navy has gone out and interfered with Swedish ships trying to lay power cables across the Baltic Sea. So they've created some conditions where Sweden and Finland I won't predict how they would react but I don't think they'll just sit on the sideline because their interests are being impacted as well. Public sentiment inside both of those countries is growing increasingly more pro-Western, pro-NATO. I don't know that there's any expectation that they intend to join the alliance so I really couldn't predict how they would react. But they are damn good soldiers, extremely well equipped and of course they've been conducting part of the team and a lot of NATO operations as well as exercises. Mark. General, so Mark Thornhill working in HQ DAG 35. I heard from Commander 4-1 about the alignment that he's going to be working with you for about two years. Do you have a view on what the preferred period of alignment would be? Given all the skills that he's amassed and his mission command element that's forward all of those attributes that they're building up and they're going to be passed off in potentially 12 or fewer months. Do you have a view on how long it should be that they're officially aligned? I sure do Mark and thank you. So I picked up Colonel Thornhill of course works in the U.S. Army staff. It's an increasing integration I think between allies where it's now common to find British officers in U.S. formations not just the Army staff and it certainly helps me because no American wakes up in the morning thinking about the E.U. for example or even knows the history of different places so it's a great help and I know not all Brits think about the E.U. either Mark, but anyway. So anyhow for me I want to see fourth division forever aligned if it's only going to be one division because number one the way they've approached it they've done such a great job helping the Army figure out how to do this but also when you have the rotations knowing that they've got the right map on the wall back at the headquarters so that all day long they're thinking about you know coming what they're going to do in Europe how they're helping us in Europe clearly it's to our advantage that it's the same division now I understand force comes challenge they have more requirements than they have resources you heard General Gonzalez of his four brigades three of them are lined up against the central command problem set that's not going to go away going to go away anytime soon but at least if I have the division headquarters allocated against Europe they understand who all them the ambassadors are they understand the they also understand the NATO structures this is not U.S. it's understanding joint force command Brunson joint force command Naples what the NATO force structure is all stuff and I've been a lot in Europe a long time I didn't know the difference between force structure and command structure until I got here and dealt with it then you see the difference so it's important having that continuity all right well look I thanks very much for your patience our great team will hang around here for just a minute I'm extremely proud of the men and women that we have 30,000 and they do create that strategic and deterrent effect and assurance effect but it only happens if we got if we've got junior leaders are able to continue to stand up and bear that weight the way they're doing if we get access to the garden reserve if we continue to find ways to be more interoperable with allies use their stuff 20 people in my headquarters free labor U.S. Army Europe headquarters 40% cut by the way that was a decision two years ago too so we're on the front end of a 40% manning reduction so having a German Army Chief of Staff British MA, Norwegians, Danes, Romanians, Canadians in the headquarters is essential for us to be able to do what we have to do and then of course allocated force at the end of the day though is incredible young