Meanwhile, the USA is staging troops and equipment for a short ground war which appears to be their plan to take over the island of Kharg which is Iran's oil export hub. The Pentagon has just issued orders to deploy for 3,000 members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Those are elite special forces and paratroopers that would be key to taking over the small island.

In addition to deploying the 82nd Airborne Immediate Readiness Force (IRF), Trump has sent 2,500 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) along with the USS Tripoli and other ships. They were previously stationed at their base in Okinawa, Japan. They will join the thousands of Marines and sailors that are being sent with the USS Boxer and war ships which would be an amphibious assault force. The Pentagon is keeping quiet, but I would expect there to be around 8,000 troops arriving specifically to carry out the seizure of the island.

It's important to note that these forces at this point aren't large enough to start a prolonged ground war with Iran, but they'd be enough for a short-term invasion to seize Kharg.

Some other signs that a ground invasion is imminent are the deployments and use of C-17 Globemaster III's to the area, along with a buildup of war planes at the Ovda Airbase and Nevatim Airbase in Israel. They are also carrying out a build-up of Army airborne units in Jordan. Many of the C-17 flights have been spotted at the Talladega Municipal Airport in Alabama which is near the Army weapons depot in Anniston where they store a large number of ground combat vehicles. A C-17 has been spotted at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar outside of San Diego, California which is the base of the 1st Marine Logistics Group that supports the US Marine Expeditionary Force.

A more informal measure of determining if a ground operation is imminent is by looking at what the servicemembers say on their social media profiles (they are saying bye to friends and loved ones) and by what they are eating. The Pentagon recently spent $22 million on lobsters and ribeye steak, and the servicemembers are now posting photos of their "Surf and Turf" meal. When I was in the military we only got served that meal right before bad shit happens!

Trump continues to say that negotiations to end the war are going well, but the actions on the ground say otherwise. My heart goes out to all of our servicemembers, their families, friends, and loved ones. It's a damn shame that they are being used in another useless never-ending illegal war of choice in Iran!