Therefore if they were paying the same as Poland their collective expenditures should be north of $560 billion.

But that's a "fairness" argument, not an argument about the actual importance of their respective contributions. That's a "should be" type of argument, but it's not an argument about what the relative importance of their role in NATO actually is. Poland is a poorer country - so even though they might be spending more on defense as a percent of GDP, the actual size of their military is still pretty small compared to the collective militaries of those Big Three.

So it's simply wrong to dismiss NATO as being nothing more than the Poles. You're simply wrong in your estimation that the other countries of NATO don't matter to NATO's forces. They matter - a lot more than the Poles'.

It quoted a US Army officer who was stationed in West Germany. He was commenting on our NATO allies. His quote - which always stuck with me - was this:

"I'd rather have the Poles than the French".


Look, if you've made up your mind about the modern day force readiness of the various militaries in Europe based on one quote, from one guy, about one country, from nearly fifty years ago, then I'm not sure what to tell you. Other than you might want to update your sources of information, and consider the possibility that this quote might not reflect current reality. And just because that single quote left you with positive feelings about Polish soliders vs. French soldiers, it doesn't make your statements about the relative importance of Poland to NATO correct. They're simply not.

You're trying all kinds of dodges and weaves to get around the fact that the other NATO nations can barely field anything should the need arise.

It's not a dodge or weave. They can field much more than the Poles. They've got more men, more planes, more ships, more everything than the Poles do. That doesn't disparage the Poles, but Poland doesn't have much of an air force or navy. Again, that's because the armed forces of Europe - including those of Poland - are designed to be complementary units within a larger fighting force and are not designed or intended to be stand-alone military forces when dealing with a continental invasion. By the standard you apply to the other countries, Poland can barely field anything, either - far less than the rest of NATO.