According to Czech journalist Milan Vodichka, in the case of an armed conflict between Russia and NATO, Russian troops will be able to occupy the territory of the Baltic States within 15 days.
Forty thousand soldiers of NATO rapid reaction force are concentrated in Eastern Europe. Initially the reaction specialists were meant to fight terrorism, but then, not because of good life, they began to participate in hostilities.
“Such a move was enough for a period when the alliance was responding to reports that jihadists had begun fattening camels to move into combat after the snow melted. But the Russians are capable to completely roll out the Baltics in 15 days,” Vodichka said ironically.
According to the expert it is impossible to deploy 300 thousand troops in the Eastern Europe now as it is required by NATO new strategic concept.
Vodicka believes that the troops of Western countries have degraded and lost their former skills:
“This has led to the degeneration of the army into cheap expeditionary units admired by bearded special forces. But now the West needs as many tankers and artillerymen as possible.”
According to Gazeta.ru, earlier the leaders of NATO member states approved a new strategic concept of the alliance until 2030, which calls Russia a “direct threat. The document also says that the North Atlantic Alliance is afraid of strengthening of the Russian military presence in various regions.
In addition, at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. President Joe Biden said at the summit of the alliance that the United States would increase its military presence in Europe.
Meanwhile, Izvestia reported that in the current fiscal year, which ends in the US on September 30, the US armed forces faced a severe shortage of recruits. The recent tendency has become a reason for close attention not only of the officials in charge of recruiting new recruits in the Pentagon but also of the press. NBC News recently published some sad data on the search for recruits. According to NBC News, so far this year, the plan to sign contracts with new recruits in the US army has only been fulfilled by 40%.
Summer is the most “fruitful” season for employers in uniform – high-school graduates agree to go to the rifle, but hiring managers are not too optimistic. The Air Force is not doing too well either – this year the Air Force planned to get about 50 thousand recruits but so far the schedule is behind by about 4 thousand people.
According to an officer interviewed by journalists, this year’s enlistment schedule for the National Guard and Air Force Reserve will hardly be met: “We hope that active military service will be carried out as planned. We hope, but we’re not sure.”
The last time the U.S. Air Force under-enlisted was more than twenty years ago, in 1999.