Soldiers of the 1st Brigade of 3rd Infantry Division are going to replace the personnel from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the US Army, which is permanently stationed in the German town of Vilseck. The latter unit which is equipped with the Stryker APC’s, has been involved in the training programme carried out together with the elements of the Polish 12th Mechanized Brigade, which were using the Rosomak APC’s.
Soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment will probably return to their original base via road transport, using their own assets. The training programme also known as the “Dragoon Ride” is also going to involve elements deployed to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. This means that there will be a chance of spotting the Stryker on the Polish roads.
Additionally, last year, a small US armoured element was deployed to Poland, under the jurisdiction of the US European Command. The unit was one of the elements of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division and it was involved in exercises together with inter alia the Polish Army’s 7th Coastal Defence Brigade.
US Army Commander in Europe, General Ben Hodges, stressed the above-described issue in his interview for the “Stars and Stripes” magazine. Hodges claimed that deployment of the equipment for the armoured units in Europe is to have a permanent character and defined it as “the new normal”. We do not know though where the US Army equipment, dedicated to be used by the brigade combat group, is going to be stored. However, it is probable that some of the equipment is going to be kept in Germany, while part of it would be distributed across the Mid-Eastern European region, including Poland.