War footing. Those are the two words I heard from sources in Washington D.C. as President Joe Biden returned from Helsinki, Finland on Friday. Member states of NATO are described as being on a war footing following the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, this week. Although the news out of the NATO summit all week was dominated by a squabble with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over when his country will be invited to join Europe's military alliance, the news shifted dramatically on Thursday when the Pentagon announced that Biden had authorized a call-up of 3,000 reservists to active duty to support U.S. military operations in Europe. The reservists will be put on full active duty status with full pay and support from the active duty military. The Pentagon also announced that families and dependents will receive support if any of the 3,000 reservists end up being deployed overseas. So far, however, there are not yet plans to have the newly-activated reserves join the 20,000 American troops who were speedily deployed to European stations after Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.
Speaking on the latest commitment from U.S. forces, Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "This reaffirms the unwavering support and commitment to the defense of NATO's eastern flank in the wake of Russia's illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine." Sims said the 3,000 reservists called to active duty will give "greater flexibility" to the Pentagon's European Command, even though it will not change the overall force structure of U.S. troops in Europe.
