A rush order was issued at Fort Hood demanding that 49 different military vehicles be repainted immediately.
The San Antonio Express-News issued a report that Army contractor Gary Pasley along with his business partner and 19 other soldiers was ordered to repaint the vehicles in just 19 days. The array of vehicles ranged from “Humvees to medium tactical vehicles.”
From San Antonio Express-News:
The GIs washed the vehicles and equipment so Pasley and Stidham could paint them a dull green, covering the familiar desert tan. That prompted Pasley, 44, an Iraq War veteran, to speculate that the Army’s priorities were shifting away from the Middle East and Afghanistan.
“I’m pretty sure that we’re downsizing from that region of the world and kind of focused on our efforts elsewhere, so I would say the vehicle (color) might be terrain appropriate,” Pasley said.
Just where the new focus might be, neither he nor the Army could say.
After 20 years of fighting wars in vehicles painted to match the desert, Fort Hood now has a relative handful of vehicles made over with a basic olive drab — the Army calls it “woodland green” — that can serve as the primer for a common camouflage pattern standardized for each vehicle type.
As yet, no camo has been applied.
The vehicles are those of Fort Hood’s 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, which issued a brief statement saying the action “signals a switch in readiness from fighting in arid places like the Middle East to fighting in more verdant regions.”
Verdant as in green, with grass or other rich vegetation. Though the Army didn’t elaborate, that could be islands in the Pacific or forests in Europe. The Marines have recently conducted field training in Norway.
The 13th ESC’s commander said in an interview that the order was part of building “field craft” among soldiers, whether they’re training to fight in Europe, as the 1st Cavalry Division is now pegged to, or with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, where the 4th Infantry Division, formerly at Fort Hood but now at Fort Carson, Colo., would be deployed under current war plans.
There are other reports that United States military posts in Europe are scrambling to repaint their vehicles from tan to green.
The order came down around the same time UK General Sir Patrick Sanders warned British troops that they must prepare for another ground war in Europe.
“We are the generation that must prepare the Army to fight in Europe once again,” he said.
Experts warn that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine could spark a larger war.
The fallout from Ukraine seems to be creating a dust-up in Lithuania over Russian goods being transported through the country.
The UK fully supports Lithuania stopping sanctioned goods from Russia travelling through their country. We must stay strong in the face of Russian aggression and challenge these unjustified threats. 🇬🇧🇱🇹
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) June 22, 2022