![\"rockyonpatch\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/rockyonpatch-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nThe Associated Press<\/a> reports that the First Brigade<\/a> of the Fort Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Division is deploying to Eastern Europe for exercises in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The article says that about 750 vehicles\/aircraft arrived at the port in Riga, Latvia yesterday. Some of those will remain there as the US rotates troops in and out of the region;<\/p>\n The Defense Department has announced plans to reduce its overall permanent basing in Europe. But at the same time, it is ramping up its program to send military units on short-term deployments across Europe for training and exercises. Over the past year, the U.S. has sent a variety of troops, including special operations forces, to exercises and training program in Eastern Europe, including Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.<\/p>\n Those nations are particularly concerned about potential threats from Russia in the wake of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the ongoing fighting between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I was a Marne Man in the Second and Third Brigades when the Division was based in West Germany. Three years in Wildflecken and four in Aschaffenburg. So it is with a certain amount of pride that I watch the Rock of the Marne lead the Army into a new era of the defense of Europe from the God-less Russian hordes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"