[seahorse]

Can anyone out there confirm to me if the 82nd Airborne Division is deployed right now? I'm trying to confirm if the entire division has been deployed. If you can, please PM me.

[UIUCstudent01]

"Official Webpage"

Last Update 11/22/2005

Don't see anything though... it still seems like they might be in New Orleans... can't be sure though.

[seahorse]

I heard a rumor, locally, that the entire division was now deployed. If that were true, it would likely mean they are in a staging area for a real world mission. Deployments, whether training or real world, are always "opsec" operation security and would not be listed publicly. They normally keep one brigade on standby as a "ready" brigade. So, if the entire division were deployed, it would be unusual.

For those who don't know, the 82nd Airborne division is a parachute unit that is in America's rapid deployment force. They can be deployed anywhere in the world in 18 hours. They are closely watched, as they typically are in spearhead strikes, for example, Grenada, Panama, 1st Gulf War. They do rotations now in Iraq and Afghanistan. If this rumor was true, that the entire division was deployed, it would be interesting.

[eastbay]

Well, they're NOT going to jump into Tehran, that's for sure. A military occupation of Iran is far beyond the current capability of the US military.

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'W')ell, they're NOT going to jump into Tehran, that's for sure. A military occupation of Iran is far beyond the current capability of the US military.

[Madpaddy]

Desertbear2 wrote
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')e must remember that we now have leaders who are so irrational that they believe that the devil is a real walking talking person. And that jeezus is directing our weapons deployment.

[julianj]

madpaddy,

I can believe the Devil lives at Privey Drive

[seahorse]

Well, I don't want to debate military strategy, but it was reported earlier in the year one military option was to secure the Iranian oil fields which are all in the south of Iran along the straights. No need to go to Tehran.

But, I only heard a rumor about a deployment of the unit. Again, if this were true, it would be interesting as it would be highly unusual. As has been pointed out, at least one brigade (of three) is in Afghanistan right now.

[GreyZone]

Many of us who are military vets are also amateur military historians, by choice and because it was useful to us during our careers. If you studied the Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s, you would be aware that the Iranians have 3 times the population of Iraq. You'd also be aware that they were not afraid of using human wave tactics against the Iraqis, and worse, that they would push Iranian children along in front of them holding religious signs. The choice of the Iraqis was to not shoot the children and die at the hands of this horde hiding behind the children, or to destroy the children and the horde. The Iraqis routinely chose to destroy the hordes. Loss of life was incredible during this period yet Iran's population has still grown in the ensuing years despite the loss of hundreds of thousands of children during that time.

Let's assume for just one moment that the US actually had just cause to take the Iranian oil fields. I don't believe this myself but please bear with me for the sake of argument. Even if we had just cause and 100% backing of the US people and even the entire world, how long would that backing last as videos showed hordes of 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 year old Iranian children being mass slaughtered to get at the Iranian troops hiding behind them? World approval would last about 15 seconds after the first such video was shown. And no, the world would NOT get angry at the Ayatollahs in Iran for using their children that way. The world is not rational, remember? The world is comprised of a species that is rationalizing and as usual, this species would rationalize that it was the US's fault that all those children died.

Now the reality is that the world already disapproves of US presence in Iraq and is upset even at the thought of us considering going into Iran. How bad will the backlash be once we destroy one human wave that has children in it?

[MicroHydro]

The 101st airborne is completely deployed, all 20,000 men have been sent to SWA. The plan is to take out Iranian infrastructure with tactical nukes, seize the oil fields with the paratroops, and, if necessary, use battlefield nukes against the hordes when the Iranians try to retake the oil fields on the gulf. As for bad press, censorship will keep people in the US and Britain from seeing the atrocities. EMP is also pretty good at frying video cameras.

see: http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php?articleid=8153

[tivoli]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MicroHydro', 'T')he 101st airborne is completely deployed, all 20,000 men have been sent to SWA. The plan is to take out Iranian infrastructure with tactical nukes, seize the oil fields with the paratroops, and, if necessary, use battlefield nukes against the hordes when the Iranians try to retake the oil fields on the gulf. As for bad press, censorship will keep people in the US and Britain from seeing the atrocities. EMP is also pretty good at frying video cameras.

see: http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php?articleid=8153

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MicroHydro', 'T')he 101st airborne is completely deployed, all 20,000 men have been sent to SWA. The plan is to take out Iranian infrastructure with tactical nukes, seize the oil fields with the paratroops, and, if necessary, use battlefield nukes against the hordes when the Iranians try to retake the oil fields on the gulf. As for bad press, censorship will keep people in the US and Britain from seeing the atrocities. EMP is also pretty good at frying video cameras.

see: http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php?articleid=8153