US Forces Take The Offensive

We observed the other day the Navy had moved two aircraft carriers into the Middle East region. We first noticed something was a bit off when the daily air power updates continued to include Naval aviation sorties. Usually during a carrier rotation, the administration insures that as one carrier enters the region the other is on the way out, but not this time.

There were plenty of other press reports that gave the impression offensive operations in both theaters were about to be sustained for a short period, and we are observing news reports of these expected offensive operations today.

Navy Times has the story from Afghanistan.

Marines in helicopters and Humvees flooded into a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan’s most violent province early Tuesday in the first major American operation in the region in years.

The article goes on to highlight that the Taliban had been expecting the Marines. The fighting in this region is likely to be sustained as the Marines make their presence known. The 24th MEU represents the first surge to the Afghanistan region by the USMC. In watching the activities of the 24th MEU, there appears to be a 24th MEU official blog that may be worth observing for news.

Additionally we observe the continued operations in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Reports on the ground are claiming that a lot of Iranian sourced materials are being captured in the fighting. As always, we default to better sources for understanding the tactical aspects of the events taking place in both theaters. Unfortunately the Iranian weapon issue will remain political, and as such, unproductive for the troops dealing with the problem.

We do not know how long the Navy will keep 2 carriers in the region, although we observe it unlikely the Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group will begin to return home until one of the offensive operations is completed.