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Thousands of US troops land in Israel. Aircraft carrier coming soon

boyntonstu

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Thousands of US troops began descending on Israel this week. Senior US military sources told DEBKAfile Friday, Jan. 6 that many would be staying up to the end of the year as part of the US-IDF deployment in readiness for a military engagement with Iran and its possible escalation into a regional conflict. They will be joined by a US aircraft carrier. The warplanes on its decks will fly missions with Israeli Air Force jets. The 9,000 US servicemen gathering in Israel in the coming weeks are mostly airmen, missile interceptor teams, marines, seamen, technicians and intelligence officers....
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http://debka.com/article/21629/

Let's see if Debka can be trusted as factual reporting.


You heard it here first!
 
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I dislike the weasel phrase "...in readiness for a military engagement..." which makes it appear to be preparation for an intended attack rather than a joint exercise in case a conflict should arise in future, which is what this actually appears to be. (Assuming it's actually happening in the first place.)
 
ah thats clever a new war during election year? :D
 
Jack by the hedge said:
I dislike the weasel phrase "...in readiness for a military engagement..." which makes it appear to be preparation for an intended attack rather than a joint exercise in case a conflict should arise in future, which is what this actually appears to be. (Assuming it's actually happening in the first place.)
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I don't think that's a weasel phrase, actually. "Readiness" is really the ideal default state of any armed force; otherwise why go to the great cost and effort of maintaining it?

Rather than being weaselly, this description quite reasonably (to me) indicates that due to heightened tensions in the region, the armed forces in the region are entering an increased state of readiness. Which is entirely to be expected.
 
But the US already has an aircraft carrier there equipped with Israeli jets. :confused:
It's Israel. Israel is the aircraft carrier.
 
Gazpacho said:
But the US already has an aircraft carrier there equipped with Israeli jets. :confused:
It's Israel. Israel is the aircraft carrier.
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It's funny because it's true.

But if their fleet strength in the region is only half what they'd like, it doesn't help much to say that half the desired fleet strength is already deployed.
 
many would be staying up to the end of the year
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Pretty poor reporting (unless your goal is to be sensationalistic). How many is many? 12, 20, 1,000?

The incoming American soldiers are officially categorized as participants in Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint US-Israeli war game ever held.

The maneuver was originally designated Juniper Stallion 2012. However, the altered name plus the comment heard from the exercise's commander, US Third Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, during his visit two weeks ago, that the coming event is more a "deployment" than an "exercise," confirmed that Washington has expanded its mission. The joint force will now be in place ready for a decision to attack Iran's nuclear installations or any war emergency.
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Conclusion based on facts not in evidence.

1) The name change from Juniper Stallion Austere to Challenge means what exactly?

2) The casual unofficial comment of "deployment" vs. "exercise" means what exactly?

3) 9,000 troops participate in this exercise/deployment, "many" remain behind for up to a year.

A little Google research shows this is a regulatory reoccurring military exercise.

"The two countries held the war games of similar scale three years ago."

"34th I.D. plans for Austere Challenge 11 in Germany"

"Austere Challenge '09"

Not to say the location and timing of the exercise isn't intended to influence Iran or to help keep a few thousand troops in the area for the next few weeks but it certainly isn't 9,000 US troops permanently moving to Israel as the article would hope to convey.
 
Robrob said:
3) 9,000 troops participate in this exercise/deployment, "many" remain behind for up to a year.
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A couple is two,
few is three,
some is four,
many is five!

So... five troops are remaining in Israel!
 
I think this might be a case of confusion and cross-reporting.

US Exercise code-names are specific to particular commands, and it appears that "Austere Challenge" is a a USEUCOM exercise, not USCENTCOM. Indeed, the US Joint Forces Command summary of exercises for FY2011/2012 includes "Austere Challenge" as a USEUCOM exercise behind held in Germany in May 2012. The link Robrob provides confirms this is a European Command exercise, usually held in Germany.

If we go back to the original article suddenly it all becomes clear.

Lt.-Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of the US Army in Europe, told The Jerusalem Post that the two armies will hold a massive ground forces exercise in Spring 2012 called “Austere Challenge,” which will seek to increase inter-operability between the IDF and the US Army.

The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces for the event of a future large-scale conflict in the Middle East.
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According to the Joint Forces Command document:

AC is a USEUCOM-sponsored Command Post Exercise/Combined Arms Exercise in full spectrum operations with a major combat operations emphasis.
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What we can safely garner for all of this is that the IDF are going to partake in the exercise in Germany by establishing a CPX, while an element of the US exercise will be complimentary US CPX in Israel.

This refutes the idea that there will be thousands of US troops in Israel; the FX part of the exercise will be in Germany, using EUCOM forces.

So what are all these troops? The article tells us what's really going on:

Shortly before Austere Challenge, scheduled for May, the EUCOM will also hold the Juniper Cobra missile defense exercise with the IDF, and include the Arrow 2 and Iron Dome as well as America’s THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and the shipbased Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. The exercise is expected to include the actual launching of interceptors from these systems.
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Of course, "US missile defense troops conducting exercise with IDF" is hardly as exciting as "thousands of US troops deploying to Israel for biggest ever exercise" but hey, reality is seldom as exciting as fantasy.

ETA

Joint Forces document (PDF)

ETA2

It appears "Juniper Cobra" is a relatively small exercise (although the biggest field exercise the USA and Israel conduct in Israel) of hundreds of US ground troops, not thousands, and it has been held every second year since 2001, so nothing to see here...
 
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Gazpacho said:
But the US already has an aircraft carrier there equipped with Israeli jets. :confused:
It's Israel. Israel is the aircraft carrier.
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For you and theprestige ...

Israel may be called an air base, if you like, but it cannot be called an aircraft carrier.

IT DOESN'T MOVE!

That's the whole point of an aircraft carrier ... it is an airfield that MOVES.

Understand?

I get a bit tired of land lubbers making utterly stupid analogies.

That was one of them.
 
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