The U.S. military’s top general in Europe said the continuing rotation of Europe-based troops to higher-priority missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the relocation of troops from Europe to the U.S., has left his cupboard a tad bare.
Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock of the U.S. European Command said he is concerned he might not have enough troops to carry out his command’s top priorities: working effectively with partner nations and waging war if necessary in his area of responsibility.
“We have very little capacity left after we source the global force pool, if you will, for these ongoing
,” Craddock said last week in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.
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Craddock called the U.S. Europe-based troops — many of whom have been deployed numerous times to Iraq and Afghanistan — “an incredibly talented, veteran force.”
But he added that if they were somewhere else, they couldn’t help out in Europe or Africa should trouble arise.
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