The US has depleted its Middle East defense systems to the point where they are stripping Asian defense systems, particularly in South Korea.
South Korean media has reported several flights of U.S. military transport aircraft at Osan Air Base since the Iran conflict started, noting that the C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster planes that were seen are used to typically carry Patriot systems and THAAD anti-ballistic missile systems.
The U.S. move to deploy Patriot defense systems in South Korea to the Middle East comes against the backdrop of reports that air defense systems used by Gulf nations were running “dangerously low” on interceptors to defend against Iranian drone and missile strikes.
IISS’ Kim said that U.S. missile supplies are already under significant strain, given that Iran continues to retaliate and the conflict is likely to be a prolonged one.
Interesting and worrisome. Then I realized, though, that I have an inside source that could give me fresh, juicy information. My son is a major in the signal corps, which handles all this tech and logistics stuff, and he’s stationed in Korea. They’re also in the middle of a huge joint exercise in the Pacific called Freedom Shield 26, in which he’s putting in long days coordinating various aspects of the exercise. He’d know about any strains and shifts in the conduct of the drill, and I know him well, and he even called me on my birthday. The perfect opportunity to get breaking news!
So I asked him about it. He stonewalled me about it. Me! His own father! He wouldn’t reveal a single tiny secret, not even as a birthday present.
Maybe it’s because he sounded really tired and overworked, and because he was calling at 4am Korean time just before he started another long day, but I couldn’t get him to crack. I also didn’t try very hard, since if true, I imagine having big chunks of the military infrastructure yanked out from under one of the guys in charge of deploying said infrastructure in the middle of a multi-national exercise is a bit of a headache.
He’s a good boy. Don’t bother trying to extract info from him.
Some friends of ours have a son who works at NATO headquarters in Brussels. They too got stonewalled when they asked him what’s going on.
So they wanted a manly, war-like military; then they make their operations sound like a feminine hygiene product?
It gets worse.
We are taking anti-missile air defenses from South Korea and sending them to the Persian Gulf because we are running out of interceptors.
We are also now sending 2,200 Marines and 3 amphibious landing ships to the Middle East.
This is obviously part of a land invasion of Iran.
Another escalation.
What the Trump regime is doing here is obvious.
Doubling down on a failed bet.
Bomb Iran. Replace the Ayatollah Khamenie with…the Ayatolla Khamenie, his son. Wreck the US and world economies. Invade Iran. When our soldiers are on the ground in Iran, they become vulnerable. While they are shooting at Iranians, those Iranians are going to be shooting back. US casualties will climb sharply.
Hello Congress. Do your job.
Oh wait. Congress is missing. I saw them featured on a milk carton.
There has been a lot of talk recently about magazine depth and how a conflict with a “near peer” (aka China) would burn through missile stocks within a week or two. Followed by recent noise about increasing production. (Something that will take a year or three.)
So it makes since that the idiots in charge would burn through those assets in a stupid war of choice.
If China doesn’t make their long expected move to take Taiwan soon, they never will.
Maybe his comms are being monitered?
He’s taking no chances on that?
Your son is a good warrior, give no information, no matter who or what. Loose lips sink ships still applies. You never know who may be listening.
You need a secure channel. Maybe you could communicate via Signal. Apparently, Hegshit and the other hotdogs think that’s secure.
AFAICT, Trump has already sold out Taiwan and the China takeover is inevitable.
.1. This happened as soon as he threw Ukraine under the bus.
.2. Followed shortly after when he threw NATO and the EU under the bus.
.3. Don’t forget the threats to invade and take over Greenland, Canada, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and California.
.4. Then the invasion of Venezuela where we took over their oil resources.
.5. And the bombing of Iran to destroy their nuclear facilities last year.
.6. And now the war with Iran which is escalating and may last 5 years or so.
.7. I’m sure I’m leaving a few atrocities out here. There are so many.
The point is that we don’t have the slightest bit of moral high ground left.
Our credibility is down where hell is, if hell existed.
International rules and law have ceased to exist, especially as far as the US is concerned.
So what or who is going to stop China. Nothing and nobody can or will now.
Here is the latest incompetence of the Trump regime.
That is true but not very helpful.
Right now, you can transit the Strait of Hormuz as long as you don’t mind getting killed.
IDK, that really doesn’t seem like a very good idea.
@6 stuffin
Err, no. He’s a soldier not a warrior.
Most of those who have sworn oaths to protect classified information are dead serious about doing just that. During a security briefing, you are told not to talk about such things outside of appropriate facilities and only with those who have been authorized to know. Friends and family are explicitly mentioned. Unless, of course, you are trump, in which case you can talk and brag about it with anyone, including enemies, and stash material in your bathroom.
@10 lasius
warrior
noun: a person engaged or experienced in warfare
broadly : a person engaged in some struggle or conflict
a program of tough training and discipline that turns untried civilians into warriors
war·ri·or
/ˈwôrēər/
noun
1. (especially in former times) a brave or experienced soldier or fighter.
“the warrior heroes of ancient Greece”
NOUN
person who fights in combat
Synonyms
STRONGEST
champion fighter hero soldier
STRONG
GI battler combatant conscript trooper
WEAK
enlisted person fighting person serviceperson
I really want to post the Calvin & Hobbes “BIG secrets, SECRET secrets, mmMMM, if only you knew” strip, but this commenting system doesn’t allow images.
@12 stuffin
https://angrystaffofficer.com/2016/12/14/stop-calling-us-warriors/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior
No doubt they are monitoring him. After all his father is a commie left wing woke socialist uni professor. You can probably expect a visit from men in black suits carrying bright lights and lead-filled rubber hoses. Isn’t that the way “patriots” get information from citizens?
On the boots on the ground note. If you remember “Doc” Smith’s Lensmen Series of Sci-fi stories, the Lensmen always blasted away with whatever high tech weaponry they had before they had to go full-on storm and board and send in the Dutch Valerians. The average US soldier doesn’t weigh 400 pounds without his armour and space axe and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are no paperback tigers. The putative allies, the Kurdish militias the armchair generals expect to rise up and do their dirty work are a faction-ridden rabble spread across at least four countries. Those countries, including Iran have dealt with them for decades. They only place they have temporarily succeed has been in Syria and even now they are slowly retreating.
Most of the Kurds have already taken a pass.
The USA has already betrayed them 3 or 4 times in the last few years, after they fought for us.
They aren’t interested in being betrayed again by the USA.
There is no agreed upon number of US betrayals of the Kurds.
Some sources have it at 8.
The latest is recent, in Syria after Assad fled.
The Kurds in the Middle East aren’t that interested in being disposable mercenaries any more.
@ ^ Raven : Hmm.. I hope not. But see :
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/12/30/infinite-thread-xxxviii/comment-page-6/#comment-2295043
I fear the Kurds are going to suffer and cop it badly whatever happens.
PZ: You really don’t need to bother your son with any questions. It’s not like anyone needs an “inside connection” to see how badly Trump is shafting EVERYONE just to have his precious little war with Iran, or whoever the fuck else he’s pissed at this week or next (subject to change without notice). Let’s all just hope his unit aren’t too directly or immediately affected by the consequences…
Trump-Netanyahu’s war isn’t going well for them..
Problem is I fear that those known sociopathic bad losers with zero regard for human lives other than their own will nuke Iran and murder millions rather than honestly facing defeat and allowing Iran to win it.
Owen Jones also has this discussion here – Could They NUKE Iran? – Why The Danger Is Real (23 mins 42 secs long) on that.
C’mon, man, it’s not inside information any more if you share it…
When I was handling that stuff every day, every so often someone (especially in DC) would drop that old “But then you’d have to kill me if you told me, right?” line. My response was a bit grimmer: “That, I don’t really care about. It’s that the fine folks at [redacted] would come and kill me…”
Those of us with security clearance and who would like to tell are also those with the moral sense not to break their commitment.