[Those who hoped for 27 soldiers:]
Less than half of what I’d hoped for.
Fair, but sending a token amount is enough to push the citizenry to support war if any are killed. In this instance, it’s more about that, than actual defense. “Sorry guys, but we’re going to use you as fodder for public support” it’s been in America’s playbook for generations, and it works. You just have to hope they’re doing the other necessary things to make it worthwhile. Like raising the budget for defense production. You’re going to need inventory ahead of time, not after.
Additionally, this small deployment is a recon group, not a fighting force. It’s there to plan a stronger defence, not to be the stronger defence. Other European countries are doing the same (Britain, Sweden, Norway, and France I am fairly sure, possibly more). OP’s article even describes it as such
My head canon is that they are there to dig out the latrines in advance for those that follow.
Germans don’t let their grunts dig latrines.
They deploy the Bagger 288
They probably had to borrow kit from a couple of brigades to fully equip those guys.
