Europe’s military personnel shortfalls exposed as Trump warns US security priorities lie elsewhere

FILE – Soldiers demonstrate operational technics for close combat in a training class at a military camp set up for the Paris Olympic games, July 19, 2024, Vincennes, just outside Paris, France. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE – Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon military fighter jets participate in NATO’s Baltic Air Policing Mission operate in Lithuanian airspace, on Sept.12, 2023. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)

FILE – Soldiers from the Belgian Special Forces perform a mock medical evacuation during an European Defense Agency joint military training exercise at Florennes airbase in Rosse, Belgium on Nov. 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

FILE – German soldiers take part in the Lithuanian-German division-level international military exercise ‘Grand Quadriga 2024’ at a training range in Pabrade, north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania on May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)

FILE – Volunteers takes part in basic training with the Polish army in Nowogrod, Poland, on June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

FILE – Lithuanian Army soldiers take part in a Lithuanian-Polish Brave Griffin 24/II military exercise near the Suwalki Gap near the Polish border at the Dirmiskes village, in Lithuania on April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)

FILE – Members of La Legion, an elite unit of the Spanish Army, march to celebrate ‘Dia de la Hispanidad’ or Hispanic Day, in Madrid, Spain, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

FILE – Members of the Greek army take part in the military parade at the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Oct. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos, File)

FILE – Army Forces of Croatia walk during the rehearsal of the French Bastille Day parade at the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, July 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)