Mihail Kogălniceanu, Romania (AP) — The U. S. Army’s 101st Airborne DivisionUU. se deployed to Europe for the first time in nearly 80 years amid rising tension between Russia and the U. S. -led NATO military alliance. UU. La Gentile infantry unit, nicknamed “Screaming Eagles,” is trained to deploy to any battlefield in the world in a matter of hours, fit to fight.
CBS News joined the division’s deputy commander, Brig. Gen. John Lubas, and Col. Edwin Matthaidess, commander of the 2nd Brigade combat team, in a Black Hawk helicopter for the hour-long adventure to the edge of NATO territory, about five kilometers from the Romanian border. with Ukraine.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, his forces have been concentrated in the northern Crimean peninsula, a Ukrainian region Moscow illegally seized in 2014. For more than seven months, Russian troops tried to push along the Black Sea coast in the Kherson region, aiming to capture Ukraine’s major port cities of Mykolaiv and Odessa.
Its purpose is to isolate all Ukrainians from the sea, leaving the country and its armed forces landlocked.
This threat, so close to NATO territory in Romania, is why it sent one of America’s top elite air strike divisions, with heavy equipment.
“We are in a position to protect every square inch of NATO soil,” Lubas told CBS News. “We bring a unique capability, thanks to our air strike capability. . . We are a gentle infantry force, again, we bring that mobility with us, for our aircraft and our air strikes. “
Sailing north along the Romanian Black Sea coast, the Black Hawk landed at a forward operating site where US and Romanian troops were striking targets in a joint air and ground attack exercise.
The shells from the tanks and the artillery fire were real. The training was aimed at recreating the battles Ukrainian forces wage every day against Russian troops across the border. The war games so close to this border are a transparent message to Russia and the U. S. NATO Allies, that the U. S. military is not willing to do so. It’s here.
“The real meaning to me, to have American troops here, is like you have to have allies in Normandy before an enemy is there,” Romanian Maj. Gen. Lulian Berdila told CBS News, referring to the historic World War II war on France’s northern coast. American forces have set up a garrison at the Romanian army air base.
In total, approximately 4,700 troops from the 101st Airborne Division’s base of operations at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have been deployed to NATO’s eastern flank.
Matthaidess told CBS News that he and his troops were the closest U. S. forces to fighting in Ukraine. In his opinion, they have “closely monitored” Russian forces, “created targets against which to exercise” and conducted trainings that “accurately replicate what is happening. “war.
“It helps keep us alert,” he said.
Screaming Eagles commanders have told CBS News that they are still “ready to fight tonight,” and while they are there to protect NATO territory, if combat intensifies or there is an attack on NATO, they are fully ready to cross the border. in Ukraine.