Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, recently visited Kiev, where he promised that a small number of Army trainers would deploy in Ukraine shortly. He also visited troops from the U.S. 2nd Cavalry regiment who are currently conducting exercises in Latvia. This weekend, Stars and Stripes published an interview with Hodges in which he announced that the United States is making preparations to pre-position equipment, including armor, other vehicles and logistical support material, in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland , Romania and Bulgaria. Some of the equipment will be stored in Germany. During the Cold War, pre-positioning equipment was a core part of U.S. strategy. Rather than tying down U.S. forces in Europe, the United States pre-positioned equipment — essentially enough to support several divisions — in Europe.