Semmelroth added that the number of these forces is subject to change and increase according to the necessities of training and coordination with the host countries, noting that the nature of their deployment is defensive with distinction, in accordance with the legitimacy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “NATO”.
The Pentagon had put about 8,500 soldiers, most of them from the 82nd and 101st Parachute Divisions, on high alert at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Campbell in Kentucky, to move them to Eastern Europe in case the need arises.