U.S. Marines land in Lithuania during BALTOPS 18 (The Corps is hot and heavy in Europe now!)

What gives here!

We've always been big in Northern Europe (since the Cold war and the Marines were tasked with defending NATO's flank) but now it's extending all over the continent.

When did this happen!

Make no mistake about it either.  We're all over Europe and we're participating in numerous exercises too (the Pentagon is allowing a false - high optempo to creep back ... this is not good for the force and terrible for equipment)....hell, we've even got a reader (John) running exercises over there and I'm waiting for the pics to hit so I can get them up on the blog.

For better or worse we seem to have decided to fight a war on terror, and plan for TWO MAJOR REGIONAL WARS, if exercises are an indication.  The Pentagon is gonna need a better focus on the money it spends, determine if there are savings in house and then beg Congress for more (assuming there is a deficit)...or else they're gonna have to rethink this strategy.

From my chair we will fail horribly in both Europe and the Pacific if things go bad.  The best bet is to make the Europeans stand up and deal with Russian aggression (I still don't believe the Russians have an offensive force...everything screams total defense to me) and we need to reorient to face the Chinese.

Failure to focus on real threats is how you suffer catastrophic national failure on the battlefield.