Get in, boys, we’re going back to Saudi!

| January 27, 2021

Both Jeff LPH 3 and the KoB sent me this one, so I figure I better get something up before there comes a vote of no confidence.

The Associated Press (via Fox News or Military Times) report that there are plans in progress to open new bases in Saudi Arabia amid the increasing tensions with Iran.

The U.S. military is exploring the possibility of using a Red Sea port in Saudi Arabia and an additional two airfields in the kingdom amid heightened tensions with Iran, the military said Tuesday.

While describing the work as “contingency” planning, the U.S. military said it already has tested unloading and shipping cargo overland from Saudi Arabia’s port at Yanbu, a crucial terminal for oil pipelines in the kingdom.

Using Yanbu, as well as air bases at Tabuk and Taif along the Red Sea, would give the American military more options along a crucial waterway that has come under increased attack from suspected mine and drone boat attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

However, the announcement comes as Saudi-American relations remain strained by the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the kingdom’s ongoing war in Yemen in the first days of President Joe Biden’s administration. Deploying — even temporarily — American troops to bases in the kingdom, which is home to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, could reignite anger among extremists.

U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for Central Command, said the evaluation of the sites had been going on for over a year, sparked by the September 2019 drone-and-missile attack on the heart of the Saudi oil industry.

More at the source.

Category: Foreign Policy, Guest Link, Iran

38 Comments
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5JC

We haven’t had a 9/11 in a while.

Sapper3307

#1 deployment for the trans troops, have fun.

Milo Mindbender

Was there 30 years ago, other coast. Abdul Aziz airbase Camp Jack, ran the Half Moon Bay road fuel point for a couple of months as the PFCIC

11B-Mailclerk

No one is going to speak of Victory. It will be another “enduring” endless not-war where we just endlessly expend effort, and lives, to no real end. “Hold the line on…” “deter…” but never “defeat the enemy and go home”. No winning allowed.

Well, except for the “inside” folks. The grifters will make out like bandits.

rgr769

When the D-rats are in charge, the connected grifters always make out like bandits. Remember the Solyndra scam. We will get Green New Deal scams that will make it look like a slight hiccup. Anyone know what the profit margin is on “green” military fuels, cuz 5% of four dollars a gallon is a pittance compared to 5% of forty ($40) dollars a gallon. What is the profit on a $500 toilet seat?

Better yet, there will be civilian “consultants” getting paid millions for supplying nothing but their advice.

MI Ranger

As CAPT Urban said, this has been an ongoing effort since 2019, the attacks by Iran on Saudi Oil Infrastructure. We have been back in Saudi since then, this is just the fruition of talks to get our bases out of the short range missile strike area and make it a more difficult effort to hit us.

Victory will be declared when Saudi can protect itself and our bases are no longer in harms way. That will only come when Iran stops trying to start wars with everyone and acts like a good neighbor instead of a belligerent child who wants to stay up and eat candy!

11B-Mailclerk

We have been helping the House of Saud for thirty years now. They still can’t defend their own Kingdom?

Maybe we are helping them the wrong way. If we are going to be the hired help, then premium pricing is warranted. That also might cut down on their madrassa funding.

USAFRetired

Its over fourty years now The AWACS and tanker task force deployed there is support of ELF-ONE in Oct 1980 and didn’t leave until April 1989. Then back along with other US forces in Aug 1990. We’ve had a presence there ever since. Personally, my first deployment there was in June 1981 as part of ELF-One. I didn’t leave anything there I needed to go back for but I’ve lost track of how many times I have been there.

MI Ranger

Yeah well. When I started with CENTCOM (not deployment but permanent) we only had some Helping units (USMTM, etc.) the only base was a mostly empty on outside Riyadh. We would do exercises and stuff with them to get them up to speed. It wasn’t until 2019s events that they (Saudi) wanted us permanently there again. Now we can be there and defend our bases, and even help defend them. It is very different than what it had been for a good 20 years. Yes, mostly it was contractors for the last 20 years.

But Biden may change all that, since all the press talks about is some NY Times occasional reporter (Saudi Citizen) getting wacked by them. Yes, it was bad. Tell them not to do it so openly. Its not like Iran hasn’t done it openly.

Martinjmpr

We have been helping the House of Saud for thirty years now. They still can’t defend their own Kingdom?

Reminds me of an old joke from the Desert Storm era:

Did you hear that Saudi Arabian has a new National Anthem?

“Onward Christian Soldiers.”

Anonymous

And…

What’s the only two things that work there? Patriots and expatriates.

AW1Ed

Didn’t leave anything there after GW Round One, and see no need to return.

ChipNASA

Great,
More of this as alluded to by 11B-Mailclerk

But not me. I’m to old and broken and fat. My son is raised better than to know to end up in MEPS with some strange, old guy’s finger in his butt.

Also, I’m confused as how to reply to Sapper3307’s comment. Do you have some inside information about deployments to the Kingdom?

I mean, me an my guys and gals were all Trans troops, pushing pallets, chaining down rolling stock like helos and HUMVEES and herding passengers on and off aircraft, tossing bags and delivering box nasties.
Should I pray or be happy for my Port folks having to deploy again. Maybe it’s just about SCUD missiles now (again) and not closer in ordinance. The *should* be much safer, Although, it *is* mighty hot there, but where isn’t?
😒 😜 🤪 🤨 🤔 🤭

https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/these-fathers-and-sons-served-together-in-the-same-war-including-me/

penguinman000

That’s a cool article. I ran across my little brother while we were both retrograding through Kuwait.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH B Woodman Grammar Nazi

Chip,
I think Sapper meant “TransGender”, NOT “Transportation”. At least, that’s the way I read it. With a big, fat (/S) tag.
Buuuut, I could be wrong. And often am.

Sapper? What say you?

My reply was *also* with a big fat /S too, just in case anyone *else* is confused.
(Although the finger in the butt thing *is* real, as almost all of us here remember, except for our lovely resident Only Army Mom. *grin*)

Berliner

When I was a Guidance Counselor at the Chicago MEPS I befriended the Army labtech. Her complaint was daily having to yell “stop it…URINE!” a guy at the urinal to get the urine sample jerking off and slowing everything up.

Anonymous

That sounds like waiting for the sh*tter overseas: “Hurry up, dude, I gotta go!”

Yup! The other tranZ,, just see if Saudi’s heads explode like when we sent bio women in 90-91.

KoB

All the more reason to hurry and implement AOC’s Green New Deal for renewable power sources. If we no longer need oil to run our War Machines then there will be no need to defend the oil fields of our Mooselem Allies. Aircraft can be launched using Unicorn Farts and ships of the line can use wind power. After all, wasn’t canvass used for centuries to good effect? Or, the students at the re-education camps…er colleges, could be taught rowing techniques. Can you say; “RAMMING SPEED!”? With all of the sunshine in the ME, how about we re-start a Solar Panel Company? After all, we have a former POTUS with friends that were in that business. Here’s another great idea. We have one of the smartest people that the present TOTUS knows, a former Naval Ossifer that has connections with a gas company. We could get the Family and Friends discount, negating the need for ME Oil.

I wonder if Pepperidge Farms remembers when the US was well on the way to being a self supporting and oil exporting nation? I remember.

GTFO!

MI Ranger

I beg to differ KoB. There would still be a need to keep VEOs from building training camps and exporting Jihad. NOt a lot of Oil coming out of Afghanistan, and only China is getting their Copper.

Hondo

“VEOs”? You mean Radical Islamic Terrorist Groups?

Because I just don’t see the Saudis letting secular non-Islamic terrorist groups set up shop in their territory.

Jay

Ehh….seems like a perfect place for a “Glad im retired” comment. As for my kids? Fuck it: my family has served it’s time. Let Biden/Harris’ kids or grandkids raise their hand and volunteer to go fight. I was a recruiter…I know JUST how to coach my kids to DQ themselves from the recruiter man.

Feeling like a girl trapped in man’s body? THERE’S A WAIVER FOR THAT!!!!!

Took Ritalin 9 years ago? PERMANENTLY DQ!!!!

rgr769

Like that would ever happen. D-rat pols’ kids rarely ever serve, and when they do, never anywhere dangerous. I recall a certain SP4 in the Viet of the Nam who pretended to be a military journalist. There was a buck sgt. assigned to make sure he never went anywhere dangerous. Then he went home early so he could go to divinity school. You may recall him, he was the AlGore of “Inconvenient Truth” fame and he invented these inter-tubes we are communicating upon. His daddy was a sitting Senator.

Hondo

Hey, I’ll give ManBearPig credit for one thing: unlike someone else we all “know and love”, at least he admitted to both smoking that “Wildwood Weed” and inhaling while doing so! (smile)

timactual

I think one of his pieces included a line about the helicopter he was riding in had to fly low to avoid VC “antiaircraft mortars”. For some reason that struck me as a bit odd.

26Limabeans

Gotta protect all that oil cuz god forbid we run out
and have to revert to evil fracking. That would ruin the green
deals and global warming scams.
Screw the Saudis. They hold no cards worth American blood.
Frack and pipe….frack and pipe….frack and pipe….

Ex-PH2

You guys will be pleased to know that since Bitumin has canceled new permits for drilling on federal land, New Mexico stands to lose millions of dollars received for those permits. And the governor had “no idea” that Bitumin would do anything quite so reprehensible. NONE. No, really, no idea at all!

It’s at the link below. Copy that to your browser and read it.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2021/01/24/new-mexico-officials-taken-aback-by-biden-assault-on-oil-and-gas/?sh=6a983d33db79

Slow Joe

Vote for stupid people, win stupid prizes.

I have told this repeatedly to the millenials in my clan, but the say I am a fake jew ™ because I am in the Army and vote Republitard. I tell them the stupid party is still ways better than the evil party.

They really think globulal wermin is real, and we will all drive Teslas in 5 years. I told them I am no interested in driving a coal- powered electric vehicle.

My gas guzzling SUV with a fake hybrid logo in the back pulled a trailer full of Army issued shit from Fort Benning GA to Fort Carson CO in 2 days. Try doing that with a tesla.

Quartermaster

You can’t do that in a Tesla even if you aren’t towing anything.

Hondo

Well, in theory you could. But to do that, I’m pretty sure you’d have to (1) mount a fair-sized generator and fuel tank on a trailer, (2) tow it behind the Tesla, and (3) modify the Tesla to allow it to be charged from said generator as needed while moving.

In other words, you’d have to convert a stock Tesla to a hybrid vehicle that used hydrocarbon fuels instead of one that’s fully electric.

But it would still have the “Tesla” name plate. (smile)

Hondo

Addendum: I guess in theory you could also do it if you were willing to (1) add an extra 3-6 hours a day to a trip that Google maps says already requires 11+ hrs/day behind the wheel driving, and (2) you could find one of Tesla’s “supercharger” stations exactly where you needed to to recharge everywhere along your route.

Good luck with that. In Mar 2020, per Wikipedia Tesla operated barely more that 900 supercharger stations nationwide.

Martinjmpr

Salty Armenia AGAIN? What, they couldn’t find a worse, more inhospitable place to station soldiers?

What’s next, declare war on penguins and deploy troops to McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic?

When I look back at GI’s who got to fight wars in France and Germany, the Philippines, Korea and Vietnam, even Panama – why does my generation of soldiers get stuck in the most gawd-awful inhospitable deserts where all the women are covered up and unavailable?

I mean, c’mon, if the government is going to get us in a war, can’t we at least fight in a place with hot women?

I hereby move that we immediately declare war on Norway and establish advanced bases in Sweden and Denmark.

Can I get a second?

martinjmpr

In case you’re wondering where I got the “Salty Armenia” reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCUreAgkK-I

One of the funniest skits ever.

USAFRetired

KoB

I second that mj and I volunteer to be the FIRST (ht 2 Sarge) to probe the enemy.

Anonymous

Back to the world’s largest kitty litter box…

Dakine

Ha! Was in Taif in ’91. Nice town outside the base.