Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced Monday that more than 4000 Idaho Army National Guard soldiers will be deployed to Germany in the next few months as “part of a training exercise”. The exercise will be conducted along with NATO partners and is meant to demonstrate US military readiness.



Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Borders said that the exercise will show that the US military is ready and able to move large forces to Europe in support of NATO objectives and the national defense strategy.



According to Borders, four battalions of roughly 4,000 will come from Idaho and the 116th Calvary Brigade Combat team with the rest of the 20 000 made up of units from Montana, Nevada, and Oregon.



Additionally, in one of the largest deployments ever for the Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing, 400 men will be deployed to Southwest Asia “in support of combat operations”.



Both Little and Borders have stated that this deployment is not related to the recent attack on Iran in which Iran’s high-level military commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, was killed during an air strike. Iran has promised revenge and has already taken action by bombing air bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed early on Wednesday morning.