Photo: Romanian and Alabama National Guard troops take a break during a shared training exercise. (Photo/ANG media)
By Troy Turner
Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers and Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi — chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees — issued a joint statement today opposing the move of U.S. combat troops from Romania’s eastern flank at a time that ally nation is vigilant in its defense while war rages in neighboring Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Alabama as a state has its own military connection to Romania, although there is no indication of it being affected by the surprise move: Romania and the Alabama National Guard have had close military ties since 1993 when they began a partnership involving training and exchange of personnel in special exercises conducted in both countries.
That partnership has continued to grow, with hundreds of Alabama Guard troops traveling to Romania each year.
Wednesday’s headlines, however, centered around news reported by the Romanian Ministry of Defense that it “has been informed about the withdrawal of some of the American troops deployed on NATO’s Eastern Flank, as part of the process of reassessing the global posture of US military forces.”
Romania’s 72nd Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Defense Battalion trained with the Alabama National Guard’s 31st CBRN Brigade in this 2022 exercise. (Photo/ANG media)
101st Airborne team named
The U.S. Army released a press statement of its own Wednesday in efforts to clarify its intentions:
“As part of the Secretary of War’s deliberate process to ensure a balanced U.S. military force posture, the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division will redeploy as scheduled to their Kentucky-based home unit without replacement.
“This is not an American withdrawal from Europe or a signal of lessened commitment to NATO and Article 5. Rather this is a positive sign of increased European capability and responsibility. Our NATO allies are meeting President Trump’s call to take primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe. This force posture adjustment will not change the security environment in Europe.
“The U.S. maintains a robust presence throughout the European Theater, and maintains the ability to array forces and capabilities to meet objectives in the Theater and support U.S. priorities, including President Trump’s commitment to defend NATO allies.”
Making their case
Rogers and Wicker, however, openly criticized the move with a lengthy joint statement also released Wednesday.
For Rogers, his interest in the Army’s redeployment comes as the House Armed Services Committee chair in a matter of defense posture for NATO and the United States in the face of threatened aggression by Russia.
Rogers, an adamant supporter of President Trump, also consistently has shown support for Ukraine and the importance of maintaining a strong U.S. presence in Europe, at least for now until European forces become stronger.
Wicker teamed with him in their joint statement to make several points criticizing the redeployment move in Romania:
“We strongly oppose the decision not to maintain the rotational U.S. brigade in Romania and the Pentagon’s process for its ongoing force posture review that may result in further drawdowns of U.S. forces from Eastern Europe.
“On March 19, we stated that we will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress.
“Unfortunately, this appears to be exactly what is being attempted. Two weeks ago, President Trump stated that the United States would not be withdrawing U.S. forces in Europe, but instead ‘may move some around a little bit.’ The President is right that U.S. force posture in Europe needs to be updated as NATO shoulders additional burdens and the character of warfare changes. But that update must be coordinated widely both within the U.S. government and with NATO.
“Romania has been a strong ally, making major investments to host U.S. forces and modernize the infrastructure that supports them. Romania has spent over 2% of GDP on its military for many years and has pledged to achieve 5% of GDP. These investments, alongside their contributions to NATO’s eastern defenses and Black Sea security, underscore Romania’s central role in the Alliance’s security.
“Notably, since 2016, Romania has hosted a U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense detachment, accepting substantial political, military, and economic risk to field systems designed primarily for the defense of NATO allies rather than its own territory.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, our European allies have agreed to shoulder historic levels of the burden of collective defense. However, European rearmament will take time. Pulling back U.S. forces from NATO’s Eastern flank prematurely, and just weeks after Russian drones violated Romanian airspace, undermines deterrence and risks inviting further Russian aggression.
“This decision also sends the wrong signal to Russia at the very moment President Trump is applying pressure to force Vladimir Putin to come to the table to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine. The President has it exactly right: now is the time for America to demonstrate our resolve against Russian aggression. Unfortunately, the Pentagon’s decision appears uncoordinated and directly at odds with the President’s strategy.
“It is concerning that Congress was not consulted in advance of this decision, particularly given the clear, bipartisan, and bicameral support for a robust U.S. posture in Europe expressed in both the House and Senate versions of the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation also makes clear the Congressional intent that no modifications be made to the U.S. posture in Europe absent a thorough review process.
“We are seeking clarification from the Pentagon on how it plans to mitigate the impact of this decision on NATO’s deterrence and defense posture and whether they coordinated with Allies to minimize these consequences. We will also seek assurances that, as the President has previously stated, the two armored brigades in Poland remain in place, and that the United States continues to sustain a persistent rotational presence in Poland, the Baltic states, and Romania.”
A busy news day
Reaction from various public affairs offices with the Army and Alabama National Guard is limited because of the ongoing federal government shutdown.
Wednesday continued to be a busy news day for Alabama and Rogers, as another, unrelated headline also developed when the Colorado attorney general announced he had filed a federal lawsuit aiming to prevent the move of Space Command Headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville.
That story filed earlier today can be found here on AlaDefense.com.
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
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