Longest US Army Troop Movement In Europe Since Patton Sends Message To Putin

2:16 PM 03/30/2015 

Jonah Bennett 

Reporter, Daily Caller News Foundation 

Operation Dragoon Ride, the longest U.S. Army movement in Europe since Gen. George S. Patton, is set to conclude later this week. The idea is to use a show of force and rapid mobility to let Russian President Vladimir Putin know that the United States can mobilize quickly, if need be, to protect allies.

The movement, which came into fruition over a period of several months, also serves as good training, according to Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of the United States Army forces in Europe.

For Hodges, while endless military training exercises have shown how rapidly Russian forces can move across terrain, American forces can move just as quickly, The New York Times reports. Operation Dragoon Ride launched just as Atlantic Resolve, a three-month deployment of American troops, was beginning to wind down. But instead of flying back to base in Germany from the Baltics and shipping equipment by rail, Hodges decided that 120 armed vehicles, along with 500 troops, would make the journey back by parading through six countries and driving a total distance of 1,100 miles.

It’s certainly a logistical test for 3^rdSquadron, 2^nd Cavalry Regiment troops. Mechanics are working feverishly to make sure that U.S. Army Stryker fighting vehicles are in tip-top shape.

In the Czech Republic, reception to Operation Dragoon Ride was frosty, as the Czechs remain divided on whom they favor more: Russia or NATO.