News from Southern California

Two pieces airing on the local Fox channel 2/17/12.
1) Marines from Camp Pendleton are being deployed to Afganistan on 2/18/12. The news stated that it was to provide relief and support for the soldiers who are already in Afganistan. They will be deployed for 8 to 12 months. It wasn't clear if there were any soldiers heading back home from Afganistan.
The Marines and Sailors are departing Marine Corps Air Station in a 747 airplane operated by ATLAS airlines.
Interestingly ATLAS was started by a Pakistani American. It is a public company known as Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings. It went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy and it is a contract based charter airline transporting cargo and passengers. It's ticker symbol is AAWW.

2) On the morning of 2/18/12 there will be drills on the Camp Pendleton base starting at 6 AM. These are live explosive training drills. The news specifically mentioned drills using C4 explosives to detonate land mines to clear mine fields.

Side note: Has anyone else noticed those Navy adverts on TV? The tag line is that the U.S. Navy is a "global force for good."
That leaves no doubt where the U.S. military has positioned itself. Dr. Paul's plans for the DoD would be squarely at odds with this current position.

I wonder if this is a sign of the preparations for additional military activities soon to come.
It would make sense for the Afgan government to try and bring the Taliban to the table to secure a truce of sorts, so that there would be less "distraction" from some new actions. I think the previous poster on another thread here in ATS has it right...Beware the Ides of March.
Frankly, I would have expected any actions to have occured on Dr. King day, but I guess the time wasn't right.

Success in war has proved to help with re-election.

Not surprised.

What would we do with them if they bring them all home? No jobs as it is.

No, they will keep them busy, over there, somewhere...