When I lived in VA Beach, VA near NAS Oceana, just before the Gulf War the fighters were flying day and night getting in training and qualifications. Then one day there were few if any flights. About 2 - 5 days later the air part of the Gulf War started.

Here in Jacksonville FL, near the NAS (Naval Air Station), there has not been any unusual activity that I can see. The planes here are mainly submarine hunters.

With the movement of troops to Wash DC (I used to live there too) and the other observations it appears something is up. Either offensive or defensive - time will tell.

Just another data point - Here, not far from Ft. Hood in central TX, I've seen a large reduction in overflights. Whereas last summer I was seeing groups of 3 - 7 choppers nearly daily, now 1 or 2 a week seems to be about average.

My guess is that some air unit was activated for the surge, and I was seeing the warmups for that. Not much going on here now, though.

Got a lot of heli traffic here (Chinooks) - never seen anything like it. Last time it got busy like this, we invaded someone...

No helicopters, but Saturday night coming home I did see a large, white SUV at a truck stop in NC with blue lettering that said "Tactical Communications". It had a Florida plate and a lot of equipment on top, included what looked like a radar dish, I figured it was headed to DC for the deployment. Windows were blacked out so I couldn't see how many folks were inside.

Yesterday I noticed 3 jets fly over pretty low, not together, but heading E to W, no military markings I could discern, but a little odd.

I am in south central Colorado my rural home is located within the La Veta MOA. We have always observed a good deal of military activity. Equipment and Troops frequently travel along the interstate, near our area, on their way to Pinon Canyon.

I would say for maybe the past couple months the activity has dramatically increased. It is constant. At night we sit in our hot tub and watch the planes fly by in formations of 3 to 5 planes. They fly east until they are out of sight followed a few minutes later by another group. Soon the first formation returns now heading west with the next trailing behind. Sometimes there will be 3 or 4 such groups going back and forth the whole time we are in the tub.

I'm not certain what kind of planes these are by now we are quite familiar with their lights we assume it’s military training operations. It started sometime ago with a lone plane flying back and forth with 2 or 3 lone planes following a distance behind one another. Lately it’s been getting pretty crowded up there.

The contrails are constant. X's, parallel lines, saw tooth patterns you name it. We even see them in front of the moon at night. My husband says he wouldn't be surprised if they started playing tic tack toe!

As far as helicopters I have recently seen a formation of about 10 black helicopters following the interstate south. It was creepy to see that many together in a group.

The only other increased activity of late has been the military jets. By the time we hear them they are already gone rarely catching a glimpse especially with all the contrails.

I don't know what is going on but we know our night sky very well and we notice activity out of the norm. This is not normal the waste of fuel alone is insane.

In my opinion there must be an urgent need to justify the expense of the steadily increasing numbers involved in these nightly training runs. We seem to be gearing up for something.

I have noticed increased air traffic to and from Willow Grove NAS in PA. 3 months ago there were only 2-3 planes in and out a day and A10's flying around twice a weeks now they are overhead daily and over a dozen cargo planes per day.

and people say to me war isnt ahead interesting this is thanks everyone i also saw 4 tornados and 1 nimrod fly past my place but i dont see much here, people sa the same thing happened before iraq war so this should mean we should worry of another war

I am in Southern California, on the coast, just north of Camp Pendleton. While pweagle has noticed an increase in military air activity in the so cal desert, I've noticed the opposite. During the summer months it's common to see air activity coming out of Camp Pendleton heading NE in the mornings and then returning to Camp Pendleton in the early afternoons. This summer I haven't noticed ANY military activity - seems almost eerily quiet.

However, over the last week I have seen an increase in small to mid size white planes. I generally just ignore air traffic in my area (unless it makes my entire house shake like the military activity does!) but what brought this to my attention was how low they sounded and how closely they were following one another. When I looked in the sky I expected to see police and news helicopters because those are what I associate with the sound of low flying, tightly clustered planes. To see one white low flying plane followed immediately by another and another and another, at least once a day and sometimes as many as four times a day, is strange and unusual! I don't know anything about planes so I can't tell you what kind they are and as far as I can tell, there aren't any markings on them.

Jemison

Increase in helicopters, third or fourth this week. I always get lots of planes overhead, but more low-flying planes recently.

for the most part, the only copter traffic I see are the helicopters coming into the Hospital or leaving it. Although I live near a base it's just pretty quiet here. I gotta say though, I saw a copter this morning and it wasnt a medical one flying over my head. hahaha. Nothing too important, but I think I've only seen a few of them (copters) out here since I moved. Nothing has worked me up into a rabid foam though. Ill keep my eyes peeled.

The KC130's are trainning missions. They are based out of Oklahoma. They follow the President around on Air Force One. Secuity for Air Force One is just one duty.

KC-130s? They don't follow Air Force One around. There is NOTHING that a KC-130 could do to provide security. I think you're confusing them with the E-4 and the Gulfstream IV they started using more recently. A KC-130 couldn't keep up with Air Force One, or carry enough cargo to be useful. A KC-130 is just a C-130 with two extra external fuel tanks to refuel helicopters.

I spent the summer at CFB 14 Wing Greenwood This summer and there was alot of fighter traffic. more than any of the other 4 summers I have spent there,

Well, one thing everyone has missed is the date.

Right now, it's 31 Aug.

30 Sep is the end of the fiscal year for the military.

Increased military air traffic could be Active duty, ANG or Air Reserve units burning up flying hours. They get "X" number per year, and if you don't use 'em, you lose 'em.

I was going to bring that up earlier, but with all the people going on about how we're going to war, I figured it would be ignored. That's probably the most likely explanation for why there were more flights, and why there are fewer now in some areas. They used up their budget and now only fly when they have to, or can get emergency funds.