Hodges: First Rotational Armored Brigade to Reach Europe in January: The US Army’s first heel-to-toe rotational heavy armored brigade combat team (ABCT) is set to reach Europe in January as part of a US military buildup in the region to reassure allies and deter against an aggressive Russia, the service’s commander in Europe said.
The 3rd Brigade of the 4th Division out of Fort Carson, Colorado, will start loading ships in the coming weeks and is scheduled to arrive in the port of Bremerhaven, Germany, in the middle of January, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said in an interview with Defense News at annual Association of the United States Army conference.
Once in port, the brigade will undergo a readiness test to see how fast it can unload the ships and get to western Poland. Hodges predicted unloading the ship would not be the challenging part, but rather working to move equipment by rail and highway from a single port.
The ABCT that will rotate in to replace the first one in September 2017 will likely sail into several ports to test its ability to unload and come together in another designated point, Hodges noted.
