Soldiers arrive in Poznan, Poland, for a rotational deployment in this undated photo. A recently cancelled U.S. troop deployment to Poland is back on, according to Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz. (Ellison Schuman/U.S. Army)
A U.S. troop deployment to Poland that was recently canceled will resume in the coming weeks, a senior Polish official said this week.
Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said he received confirmation of the decision from U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Poland Stephanie Holmes and a U.S. military attache in the country.
“The rotation that was suspended a few weeks ago is returning, it will continue and in the coming weeks the rotation of American troops in Poland will be filled,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters Monday during a defense industry event in northern Poland.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the situation.
The Polish defense chief didn’t name the unit involved in the mission. But his statement that a previously suspended rotation has been reactivated suggests that it could involve a Fort Hood, Texas-based armored brigade that was previously tapped for a nine-month deployment to Poland.
If that is the case, the on-off-on-again mission points to significant upheaval for the nearly 5,000 soldiers assigned to the unit and many family members who would once again face the prospect of a lengthy separation.
In May, parts of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, had already deployed to Poland when the Pentagon nixed the mission. The decision caused consternation in Poland. Weeks after the announcement, President Donald Trump intervened and said he was sending 5,000 troops back to the country.
The Defense Department has not explained how it intends to fulfill Trump’s order. Some lawmakers have accused the Pentagon of moving too slowly.
In a statement last week on X, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his team reduced the Army’s brigade strength by 40% in Europe “unilaterally without support from Congress.”
Bacon also complained that while Trump has directed that a brigade be sent to Poland, “nothing has happened.”
The Pentagon has multiple options for getting more troops to Poland in the coming weeks.
The Pentagon is still expected to reduce the number of troops in Germany by around 5,000. The details of that move have not been released, but shifting some of those forces to Poland, even on a rotational basis, could help achieve Trump’s call for an immediate boost to the U.S. military presence in Poland.
The U.S. and Poland are also discussing the establishment of a new permanent base in the country. However, it would likely take several years to build the necessary facilities to house thousands more U.S. troops and their families.
Last month, Polish officials said they are searching for locations to build a new American base, likely in the western part of the country. Poland has said it is prepared to spend around $3 billion to make it happen.
The merits of permanently basing a brigade-sized unit in Poland have been debated for years in military circles.
After Russia’s 2014 military intervention in Ukraine, the U.S. Army began expanding its mission in Europe and along NATO’s eastern flank. Priority was given to rotational forces, which can be adjusted as needed and do not require the heavy infrastructure investments that come with a permanent mission.
But after more than a decade of continuous rotations, the costs of such missions have added up and the repeated nine-month deployments have taken a toll on soldiers and their families. Military researchers have argued that the approach has eroded Army combat readiness and narrowed the service’s ability to respond to crises elsewhere.
Past studies have also found that rotating an Army tank brigade to Europe costs nearly $70 million more per year than basing that unit permanently in either Germany or Poland.
