Training and discipline dished out at Naval Station Great Lakes is paying off as U.S. sailors again are in harm’s way with lethal missiles flying across the Persian Gulf. The Navy has a powerful armada on station in the widening Mideast conflict.
As the nation’s sole training facility for the Navy since 1994, enlisted personnel who have been processed or stationed at the North Chicago base are manning ships in the two strike forces in the Mediterranean and Arabian seas. Those from the “Quarterdeck of the Navy” have been doing yeomen’s jobs at the tip of our military spear, sea-based airpower.
Petty officers and chiefs who turn civilians into sailors during the 10-week “boot camp” training period have taught their charges well during the early days of the “Operation Epic Fury” campaign against Iran. Three “boot” graduations are slated this month at Great Lakes, on March 12, 19 and 26. The 1,600-acre base and surrounding communities support more than 20,000 sailors, Marines and Department of War civilians.
The Navy has a flotilla in the Gulf region, led by two supercarriers. One is the newest and most advanced of our floating airfields, the USS Gerald R. Ford, named for the former president who served in the Navy during World War II, with part of his stint at Great Lakes. The other is the USS Abraham Lincoln. Both task forces have numerous support vessels and guided-missile destroyers.
The Abraham Lincoln, honoring Illinois’ favorite son, our 16th president, has been on station in the Arabian Sea since January. The presence of our most-potent vessels is the largest buildup of U.S. warships and aircraft in the Mideast since the Iraq War. The Navy also has unleashed submariners, with a sub sinking an Iranian ship with a torpedo.
Given the way rockets are being launched indiscriminately by Iranian forces in retaliation for pinpoint American and Israeli bombing runs on the country, there is a risk of casualties at sea. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on March 1 falsely claimed it had attacked and damaged the Abraham Lincoln, which, if true, would have been a propaganda coup.
The number of U.S. troops killed in the frenzied operations has risen to six so far. Another half-dozen aviators in three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets missed being injured after they ejected safely when downed by friendly fire over Kuwait earlier this week, according to U.S. Central Command. Three U.S. embassies in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Kuwait, have been hit by Iran.
Several reports said Iranian drones or missiles have hit six U.S. military facilities in the region. Those targets were the headquarters of the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, Army facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, and three bases in Kuwait, including Camp Arifjan in the oil-rich nation. Tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel are based in the region.
Also in danger into this breach are members of an Army Reserve unit based at Fort Sheridan, just south of Lake Forest. Reserve soldiers from the 337th Military Intelligence Battalion deployed to the region just before hostilities broke out on Feb. 28. The unit specializes in providing key intelligence support for theater operations, strategic missions and combat support activities.
Civilians, too, could be in jeopardy in the U.S. from Iranian retaliation or lone wolves sympathetic to the regime. Local, state and federal lawmen say they are on high alert for possible terrorist attacks in the homeland.
The aims of “Epic Fury,” launched by President Donald Trump, according to U.S. Command, are to dismantle the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, including Revolutionary Guard command-and-control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. That is occurring daily, and the pounding could, the president has said, last from a month to five weeks or longer.
Trump, who has not discounted “boots on the ground,” said he ordered the Iran attacks after nuclear disarmament talks broke down and he feared U.S. forces would be in the sights of Iranian forces. Iran has been declared an “axis of evil” by several U.S. presidents over the years.
Since its founding in 1979, the regime has threatened nearby Persian Gulf nations, and its citizens have chanted “Death to America” for decades. It has also financed several proxy paramilitary groups in the region, including Hezbollah.
Some may remember that Hezbollah was linked to the October 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, where 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers died. Following the truck blast, President Ronald Reagan withdrew all U.S. military forces from the country.
Whether one believes this military intervention was long overdue or is another “wag the dog” instance to distract from an administration’s polling ills, those soldiers, sailors and pilots in peril on the president’s mission deserve our support, and our hope for returning safe and sound.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. sellenews@gmail.com. X @sellenews.
