re: Boots on the ground look likely but not an invasion

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GWOT really fricked up a lot of people's idea of how these units are normally used.

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Well I was replying to the guy who said it would be a mistake to deploy the 82nd or Rangers. I’m aware of the missions and capabilities of both units.

10/10 we already have a small contingent of special ops people on the ground. The trick is to keep it that way and then tip-toe out of that mess before the sectarian conflicts start.

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Well I was replying to the guy who said it would be a mistake to deploy the 82nd or Rangers. I’m aware of the missions and capabilities of both units.

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Ok, well I guess was a bit confused when you said the 82nd and Rangers "exist" to back up SOF, which is a silly thing to say, especially when both formations predate SOF by decades. If anything, it's the other way around. A SOF team has far less war fighting capability than even a standard 'leg' line infantry platoon.

I suppose I worded that wrong. But if I had to guess in this operation the rangers will mostly be support/QRF for other SOF forces and the 82nd will secure some operating bases in key areas. I can’t imagine any kind of low level static line mass jumps for airfield seizure and the like because of the threat of MANPADS. If they do jump it’ll be in at least semi friendly territory controlled by friendly Kurdish forces or out in the middle of nowhere and just walk to the target.

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I can’t imagine any kind of low level static line mass jumps for airfield seizure and the like because of the threat of MANPADS.

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The 82nd’s parachute assault capability today is a lot like the Marine Corps’ large-scale amphibious assault mission. It’s a core identity and they absolutely maintain the capability, but it’s rarely the actual reason those forces are selected for an operation.

In practice the 82nd is chosen because it’s a high-readiness light infantry division that can project significant combat force anywhere in the world on short notice. Airborne is just one of the tools in the kit these days.

The same applies to the Marines. Amphibious forcible entry is doctrinally central and they train for it constantly, but most modern Marine deployments are expeditionary, forward presence, and rapid conventional force projection rather than storming defended beaches.

Those capabilities exist because if the day ever comes that you actually need them, there’s no substitute. But day-to-day they function primarily as rapid-response expeditionary forces, not because we expect to conduct parachute assaults or opposed amphibious landings every time they’re used.

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The 82nd’s parachute assault capability today is a lot like the Marine Corps’ large-scale amphibious assault mission. It’s a core identity and they absolutely maintain the capability, but it’s rarely the actual reason those forces are selected for an operation. In practice the 82nd is chosen because it’s a high-readiness light infantry division that can project significant combat force anywhere in the world on short notice. Airborne is just one of the tools in the kit these days. The same applies to the Marines. Amphibious forcible entry is doctrinally central and they train for it constantly, but most modern Marine deployments are expeditionary, forward presence, and rapid conventional force projection rather than storming defended beaches. Those capabilities exist because if the day ever comes that you actually need them, there’s no substitute. But day-to-day they function primarily as rapid-response expeditionary forces, not because we expect to conduct parachute assaults or opposed amphibious landings every time they’re used.

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I agree with everything you said.

Although I think the Marines should shift their focus away from light infantry as its core mission. But that’s a whole other discussion.

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Although I think the Marines should shift their focus away from light infantry

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I'd go much further than that, but yeah, different discussion.

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Trump literally campaigned on "bombing the shite" out of terrorists in the middle east and has been advocating for military intervention in Iran since 1980. Israel didn't "goad" him into anything here. Like everything else he does this was planned out long in advance.

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He also signed the Doha Agreement, handing control of Afghanistan over to the Taliban, in an attempt to end the cycle of nation building and never-ending wars in the Middle East as a cornerstone of his foreign policy agenda that he ran on in 2020.