"The U.S. Marine Corps just sent tanks to stare down Russia"

RallyPoint Shared Content — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 16:09:57 -0400

From: The Week

The U.S. Marine Corps now has tanks–along with other armored vehicles and howitzers–at a base in Bulgaria. Take a leap and guess why. Yes, the new task force is all about staring down the Kremlin.

Since Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014, the Pentagon has dramatically expanded its presence in Eastern Europe. The new unit is just the latest part of the campaign to reassure Washington's allies in the region, dubbed Operation Atlantic Resolve.

The so-called Combined Arms Company has four heavily armed and armored M1 Abrams main battle tanks, according to Marine Corps Times. Each tank boasts a 120-millimeter main gun. The Marines also brought six amphibious Light Armored Vehicles–including LAV-25 variants armed with 25-millimeter automatic cannons–and specialized LAV-R recovery vehicles.

To top it off, the Marines brought along three M-777 155-millimeter howitzers.

An official Marine Corps article explained how the service went about getting the vehicles to their destination, the structure of the company, and what the Marines' mission will be.

The heavy equipment arrived in Bremerhaven, Germany, Sunday, and is bound for Bulgaria. The tanks, artillery, and light armored reconnaissance vehicles will be loaded on trains and moved across Europe demonstrating our allies' and international partners' ability to move heavy equipment across the region to support operations during a crisis.

Using this equipment, Marines will train alongside allies' and partners' mechanized units collectively improving combined arms skills and anti-armor tactics. Accompanied by more than 160 Marines, the tanks, artillery, and light-armored reconnaissance vehicles comprise the Combined Arms Company. The unit will make up part of the Black Sea Rotational Force, but will be based at the Novo Selo Training Area in Bulgaria.

"The transportation of a Marine Corps combined arms capability in the Black Sea region has fostered improved communication and coordination with the allied force and its partners," said Lt. Col. John Sattely, director of logistics for U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa. "The result of this collaboration and coordination is that the various agencies and organizations involved are familiar with each other now rather than learning about one another after a crisis happens."

The Marine Corps stood up the Black Sea Rotational Force at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in neighboring Romania in 2010. Since then, Marines make regular stops across Eastern Europe to hone their skills with friends and allies.

According to an official pamphlet, the task force:

- Demonstrates the U.S. commitment and maintains strategic access across the Caucasus and Black Sea regions through theater security cooperation and security force assistance.
- Provides a robust U.S. engagement plan while minimizing costs — the best "bang for the buck" in Europe.

While Marines visit Novo Selo every year to work with their NATO allies, the new Combined Arms Company will be stationed there on a semi-permanent basis. Leathernecks can now expect to rotate through regular deployments to the facility.

The new contingent will increase the overall size of the existing task force by around 150 percent. As of February 2015, there were some 260 Marines with the Black Sea Rotational Force in Romania, according to an official briefing. Two months later, the Marine Corps sent another 200 troops from its Africa-focused unit in Spain to help out.

With the fighting nearby Ukraine flaring up again, the Marines can probably expect to be in Eastern Europe for the foreseeable future.

http://theweek.com/articles/573020/marine-corps-just-sent-tanks-stare-down-russia

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 21 at 2015 4:17 PM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 16:17:12 -0400

Probably needed to happen and should make the Kremlin think twice before anything too foolish.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 21 at 2015 4:41 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 16:41:38 -0400

*Lol* The Marine Corps has tanks?

Response by SPC Americo Garcia made Aug 21 at 2015 5:01 PM

SPC Americo Garcia — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 17:01:57 -0400

It seems by the way some histoical facts go. It can lead to war between our old cold war tensions.

Response by Capt Jeff S. made Aug 22 at 2015 7:29 PM

Capt Jeff S. — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 19:29:09 -0400

Trouble is, Obama is seen as weak (by the entire world), arrogant and untrustworthy toward his allies, and worse toward his own electorate!! NOBODY in the world has any confidence that we will do what we say we're going to do.

Obama has taken every opportunity to poke Russia in the eye and has NOT been acting in our mutual interests. Obama has been supporting radical Islam covertly through his State Department. Russia also would like to see stability in the Middle East (for their own purposes) and they warned us against supporting the Syrian rebels. Russia called it right. Yes, Assad is bad, but the alternative is worse.

So instead of listening to the Russians, we propped up radical Islam, and helped to create the Arab Spring. This was supposed to be a good thing, but along with our mucking around in Aghanistan and Iraq, what it ended up doing was creating more distrust and resentment of Western influence and a vacuum of power in Iraq and Syria, which ISIS sprang out of... Instead of nipping the problem in the bud, early, we dismissed their movement, called them the JV squad, and let them grow in power! ISIS has practically all the equipment we gave to the Iraqi Armed Forces, which the Iraqi's dropped and left for them -- as they ran away from the fight.

If Russia had any respect for us, they wouldn't have invaded Crimea, but they know Obama's weak and won't do anything except run his mouth and rattle sabers. We are messing around in their neighborhood and mucking things up for them too. From a Russian perspective, they are going to return our favors and work with China and Iran against us. We can thank Obama's STUPID! Middle East foreign policy for creating many of the problems we are having to deal with now.

Response by PO2 Steven Erickson made Aug 22 at 2015 10:59 PM

PO2 Steven Erickson — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 22:59:09 -0400

I mean absolutely NO disrespect to the Marines... I do NOT have a death wish... but this unit is a CLASSIC Cold War "Trip Wire"... Screw with this "little" group of Uncle Sammy's Misguided Children and you mess with the whole trailer park...

This scene from Men In Black always gets me... (the clip is over 2 minutes, but my point is made at about 1m 5s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9puHtVcU5o

Men in Black (8/8) Was That Your Auntie? - (1997) HD

Men in Black movie clips: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkC2ZNxzIbWFNPFXA-FvlEJxq7dNtj9Oo BUY THE MOVIE: http://amzn.to/UHWEwb Don't miss the HOTTES...

Response by MSgt Curtis Ellis made Aug 22 at 2015 11:09 PM

MSgt Curtis Ellis — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 23:09:16 -0400

This is going to be quite interesting in the upcoming months...

Response by Capt Jeff S. made Dec 24 at 2015 4:16 AM

Capt Jeff S. — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 04:16:51 -0500

Without Air Defense they will be sitting ducks for Russian aircraft. Just saying.

Response by SSG Edward Tilton made Oct 23 at 2017 7:49 PM

SSG Edward Tilton — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 19:49:14 -0400

Problem is Geography, Bulgaria is nowhere near Russia. Romania, Moldava, and Ukraine are in between.