Captain Jim Fennell

It's a good way forward.

And our president deserves a lot of credit

for bringing the nation's attention to the fact that America has to be a maritime power to be great again.

And we have neglected that for 40 years because of all these wars in the Middle East.

And so the sooner that we can get out of the Middle East, the better.

Well, there's no question they will.

But remember, they did go through a 12-day war and they took extensive damage there.

That's one fact.

The other fact is all the stuff that I just mentioned, all the array of forces that are coming into theater.

That's why those extra tactical jet aircraft are being brought in, the F-35s, the Strike Eagles, the FNA-18s.

All of those aircraft are brought in for exactly what you're talking about, which is to essentially suppress

Typically to suppress enemy air defenses, we can extend that to say suppression of enemy ballistic missiles.

And so the idea that they're going to just be able to launch off arrays and volume, volley after volley of ballistic missiles, I don't believe that will be achievable because we're there in such strength that anybody that comes out of the hole is going to be observed and going to be struck.

And if they do get off a wave or the first salvo, there's enough defensive capability there that they'll be able to be quite successful for the first parts of this.

So I don't downplay those people's concern.

I'd be concerned if I lived in those regions, no question.

We should have the same concerns for Taiwan and our allies in Japan and South Korea and the Philippines as well, because they're living under the same threat from the People's Republic of China.

But I think in this case, by moving these carriers in and these other aircraft, the ISR and the command and control, it's going to be very, very difficult for Iran, who's already been crippled in that 12-day war, to be able to get out and successfully launch a ballistic missile attacks.

In fact, just today, there was commercial imagery showing the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group 150 miles off the coast of Oman.

in the Gulf of Oman.