The 1st Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, based out of Fort Cavazos, Texas, has seen its deployment in Poland extended until around June. The regiment's mission is part of efforts to shore up NATO defenses on the allliance's eastern flank. (Leara Shumate/U.S. Army)
STUTTGART, Germany — A Texas-based Patriot missile air defense unit dispatched to Poland to bolster defenses on NATO’s eastern flank will have its deployment extended three months, the Army said this week.
The 1st Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment’s mission will now last until around June. Its deployment to Poland began in October as part of efforts to enhance European defenses in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Being away from family is hard, but I have really grown to my platoon being my family,” Staff Sgt. Zachary Nanninga, a platoon sergeant in the unit based at Fort Cavazos, said in a statement Wednesday from the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command.
A turbulent security environment in Europe and beyond has led to unexpected mission extensions for U.S. troops.
Concerns about the Israel-Hamas war expanding forced thousands of sailors aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to remain at sea several months past their expected return date. Ford returned in January to its homeport in Norfolk, Va.
Similar situations have played out for some soldiers operating in the U.S. European Command area.
“Our mission along the eastern flank is demanding, but this is an unprecedented time in EUCOM,” said Capt. Leara Shumate, a spokeswoman for the 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, which oversees the 1st Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment during its time in Europe.
Since the Russia-Ukraine war started, the military has sent an array of units to Europe on a rotational basis, typically on six or nine-month deployments.
Overall, that has added up to force levels in the range of 100,000 U.S. troops on the Continent, up from the 80,000 in place ahead of Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.
The Army has been the main provider of the additional troops in Europe. And during the course of the expanded operations, the Army has been forced to extend some missions to meet demands.
For example, the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based out of Fort Riley, Kan., saw its nine-month rotation in 2022 to Europe extended.
U.S. Army air defense units based in Germany also have been in high demand on NATO’s eastern flank. On Monday, the Ansbach-based Alpha Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, returned to Germany after a deployment that saw its soldiers fanned out across the eastern flank.
U.S. Army Patriot air defense units in Germany, which carried out the Patriot mission in Poland before the arrival of 1-62, also experienced long stints away from home because of events in Ukraine.
The 1st Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment is now “at the center of a multinational initiative to bolster the region’s security infrastructure,” the Army statement said.
