Polish Maj. Gen. Adam Joks will serve as deputy commander of the U.S. Army’s recently reestablished V Corps headquarters, which oversees soldiers along NATO’s eastern flank. (NATO)
Polish Maj. Gen. Adam Joks will serve as deputy commander of the U.S. Army’s recently reestablished V Corps headquarters, which oversees soldiers along NATO’s eastern flank. (NATO)
Polish Maj. Gen. Adam Joks will serve as deputy commander of the U.S. Army’s recently reestablished V Corps headquarters, which oversees soldiers along NATO’s eastern flank. (NATO)
STUTTGART, Germany — A Polish general will serve as deputy commander of the U.S. Army’s recently reestablished V Corps headquarters, which oversees forces operating along NATO’s eastern flank, U.S. and Polish officials said.
Maj. Gen. Adam Joks was appointed as deputy commander of the Fort Knox, Ky.-based command, which has a forward headquarters in Poznan, Poland.
The U.S. Embassy in Poland said in a statement that the move marks the first time a Polish general has served in the U.S. military’s command structure in such a manner.
Joks will serve under U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski, who was in Warsaw on Monday for talks with Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Baszczak when the decision was announced.
The establishment of V Corps’ forward element is “tangible proof of intensifying Polish-American relations and the fact that our strategic partnership is growing stronger,” Poland's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The Army officially reactivated V Corps in October in a push to add more command and control support for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, and help manage the movement of units rotating in and out of Europe.
About 200 of the Corps’ 635 soldiers will be on rotation in Poznan at any given time.
V Corps has a long history in Europe, dating to 1918 when it was established during World War I. It returned to Europe in World War II and carried out Army missions on the Continent throughout the Cold War. The unit was deactivated in 2013 as part of the Army’s long post-Cold War drawdown in Europe.
But after Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine in 2014, the Army mission on the Continent began to expand again, especially in places like Poland and the Baltics, where NATO allies are concerned about a more assertive Moscow.
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