As tensions continue to build in the Middle East, the United States is making a resolute show of force. Over 17,200 military personnel from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are heading towards or have already arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean in what is widely viewed as a clear message to U.S. adversaries.
Last month, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III outlined a series of measures intended to raise America’s military profile in the Middle East. Included in these measures is the redirection of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the area under Central Command’s jurisdiction. This addition supplements the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, Navy’s largest and most advanced nuclear aircraft carrier, currently stationed in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group will now join the USS Gerald R. Ford group. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder addressed the deployments on October 23, asserting that while no one wishes for the conflict to escalate, the U.S. will not hesitate to protect its forces and interests abroad.
