Milley visits Sweden to show his support for NATO’s bid
The two countries have long cooperated with the US military but resisted applying to join NATO until last month out of concern that it would anger Moscow. Following Russia’s invasion of UkraineBut that changed with significant shifts in public opinion in favor of joining the military alliance in both countries.
The new dynamic was evident as the 843-foot-long amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge sat in a narrow waterway that ran through Stockholm while packed with attack helicopters and other aircraft and more than 2,000 U.S. Marines and sailors.
The United States has never moved such a large warship into this capital of nearly 1 million people, Milley said. Doing so created a spectacle for tourists who took pictures and challenges for American troops and Swedish personnel who squeezed the ship into the city.
“It was a big development for us to pull in,” said Tera Geoffrey, a lieutenant junior class assigned to the ship. “Our depth under the keel was sometimes less than 10 feet.”
Milley told reporters aboard the Kearsarge that President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have asked the Pentagon to develop new options to “modestly increase” US military involvement in Sweden where appropriate. Meanwhile, other long scheduled operations such as the naval exercise will continue.
“We’re looking at things we can do on the ground with either the Marines or the Army, things we can do with Special Forces, things we can do with the Air Force or Navy,” Milley said.
While the NATO alliance is designed to be defensive, Sweden and Finland joining would further enclose the Baltic Sea with NATO countries, something that would be “very problematic” for Russia militarily and “very beneficial” for NATO, Milley said. The Swedish military is not large, Milley said, but it has an excellent navy, modern equipment and well-trained ground forces.
The membership applications come as a NATO ally, Turkey, threatens to block Finland and Sweden from joining the allianceciting the presence in their countries of militants from the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that the US and Turkish governments have labeled as terrorist organizations.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, who appeared alongside Milley, said the Finnish and Swedish governments would continue to discuss Turkey’s concerns, but that Sweden had taken a “very clear stance against terrorists.”
– There is no doubt about Sweden’s position in that regard, she said.
As Russia threatened and finally launched its invasion, the Pentagon increased its troop numbers in Europe from about 80,000 to more than 100,000 — including Marines and sailors at sea. Maj. Gen. Frank Donovan, who oversees personnel from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune, NC, said the unit has visited Iceland, Norway, Estonia, Greece and Turkey in recent months.
“We can tailor the force to what the task is, and we’re very maneuverable,” Donovan said.
The Marines have been deployed with newly adapted radar that was originally designed to help fishermen find a potential catch, Donovan said. It has been adapted to be placed on islands or coastlines to track ship movements up to 60 miles away, with data tracked on a tablet, he said.