Do the Math - So

Do the Math - So CNN has saturation coverage today of the 101st "Airborne" Division - the "Screaming Eagles" of WWII fame - shipping out for the Gulf. Correspondents are on the scene as Chinook helicopters, tarped to shield them from salt spume a sea, and Humvees and every other vehicle that the huge 101st uses, are loaded onto immense cargo ships for the trip.

During the last Gulf War, the 101st jumped via helicopter across the entire Iraqi army, to cut the road from Baghdad to Basra. The action cut off a huge chunk of Hussein's army along the northern coast of Iraq. One might expect the division, with its unparalleled airmobility, will have a fairly key role in any war that might break out.

So let's do the math:

• Two weeks in transit across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal and around the Yemeni coast, then back up the eastern Saudi coast, then through the Gulf - unless the Jordanians allow it to unload at Aqaba.
• A couple of days to unload the ships
• Another couple of days for units to find all their equipment and get it ready for action.
• Somewhere in there, as much time as possible to acclimate the division to the climate - although in March, it'll be easier. It may be easier stil - I don't know when the Division last trained at the National Training Center, in the Nevada desert - but that might accelerate the acclimatization time.
• Then, into action

So what does that make? Three weeks, perhaps?

Second week of March?

What do you think?

Posted by Mitch at February 13, 2003 04:05 PM