Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a limited number of U.S. troops to prepare for deployment in support of Israel, as reported by multiple sources.
Approximately 2,000 troops have been selected to be on standby for advisory and medical assistance.
The troops will be drawn from various branches of the U.S. military, including those already stationed in the Middle East and nearby Europe.
While their specific units and deployment locations have not been disclosed, it has been emphasized that they will not have a combat role.
The U.S. is extending support to Israel, which is engaged in a conflict with Hamas, primarily focusing on intelligence and planning assistance for potential hostage rescue operations.
As a genuine question, how often does the US do this? If this is relatively common then it’s probably fine. If this is unique or step one of what eventually becomes something else, there is some cause for concern.
I’m not saying it’s a good/bad idea, just want to put it in context.
Pretty common. Obviously, this is a higher profile situation than most, but 90% of the military is ‘things other than shooting and killing’, so opportunities to combine good practice and good PR are often taken. Because of things like this, you end up with US Army dentists doing free drillings and extractions in Africa, shipping medical supplies to countries that need it, etc etc. Idle hands are devils’ work, and all that.
This is a relatively common type of deployment to places where the US wants to be seen helping but doesn’t want to participate in the actual shooting. So they set up some field hospitals and send some people over for things like military intelligence coordination
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