It’s still too early to say if additional Marines would be deployed to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank amid Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, according to the Marine Corps’ senior leader. General David Berger, the Commandant of the United States Forces on the Continent, remarked as the number of American soldiers on the continent recently surpassed 100,000 for the first time in over two decades. Berger talked to the media while participating in the 27-nation Cold Response drill in northern Norway. On Wednesday, the number of Marines sent to Europe in that capacity was unavailable. Around 1,500 Marines are based in Europe, including a crisis response group in Spain that collaborates with US Africa Command. Approximately 3,000 Marines and sailors are participating in Cold Response, Norway’s biggest military operation since the end of the Cold War.
