So, the rumours are true, the USS Enterprise is scooting back to the Persian Gulf
- usual game issue - could be regular rotation, with one of the two carriers already there going home (Stennis should head back in August if they stick to the six month rotation), but it will provide a window with three carriers in the region, just in case someone wants to start flicking at chips on shoulders of paranoiacs...
a bit early. I also note the Lincoln, Truman and Eisenhower are all at sea doing warmups. There are not enough aircraft carriers out of dock and warmed up to sustain two carriers deployed to the Gulf for much longer, maybe one more rotation and then they have to back down to one carrier up there.
No sign of a submarine surge, but there seem to be an awful lot of "overseas deployment exercises" this summer for a number of Air Force combat wings. Good to practise those. Be amusing to see if the schedules line up sometime early autumn, but not worth my time to dig into the data.
J-Post had a curious article claiming that the Israelis were running out of time to stop Iran from getting nukes.
August is, notoriously, a bad time to start a war. 'Course that means it'd be a real surprise if someone did something that stupid... but I'd guess early/mid September is the time to stress if you worry about such things.
Why is it bad to start a war in August?
"From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."
Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff
On September 17, 2002, Matt Miller stated on NPR that the above quote from Andrew Card was in response to the question: "... why the administration waited until after Labor Day to try to sell the American people on military action against Iraq"