VICE News

Dutch Forces Mobilize (Extra Scene from 'The Russians Are Coming: NATO's Frontier') (2x128)

: 11, 2015

In the wake of events in eastern Ukraine over the last year, NATO has turned its attention towards countries that border the Russian Federation and attempted to boost its quick-response capabilities in Europe. In September 2014, the alliance agreed to create a 5,000-strong rapid reaction Spearhead Force, which will be capable of deploying across the continent within 48 hours of a military incursion. In June, VICE News joined several thousand NATO troops in western Poland, for the first deployment test of the "Very High Readiness Joint Task Force," known as Noble Jump. Dutch forces were among those participating in the exercise. In this extra scene, VICE News travels to the Netherlands to see how NATO armies would mobilize and deploy in the event of a conflict in Europe. One Dutch major told us that Russia's invasion of the Crimean Peninsula had been a "wakeup call" for the continent.