Zorching is the new surging

At yesterday's Pentagon press briefing, a great deal of time was dedicated to the subject of U.S. naval posture in the USCENTCOM AOR, specifically the Arabian Gulf. A number of journalists pressed Capt. Kirby and Mr. Little about whether the current two-carrier presence (STENNIS and VINSON) is an anomaly, a response to rising tensions in the region, or just coincidental business-as-usual. The spokesmen were slippery. Here's Kirby:

And that presence changes all the time.  It fluctuates based on needs and requirements set by the combatant commander and approved by the Joint Staff and the secretary of defense.  

And as you all know, I mean, to get an aircraft carrier strike group anywhere in the world takes time.  It takes a lot of planning and training.  Months of advance work is done.  It's not – I don't want to leave anybody with the impression that, you know, we're somehow zorching two carriers over there because we're concerned about what happened, you know, today in Iran.  It's just not the case. This is – this is just prudent force posture requirements set by the combatant commander.

I'm going to be frank with you here: I have no idea whether this is true or not. I don't know whether ships' movements in this case are responsive to political developments in the region; if anyone else does, I'd be very interested to see your comments.

What this brief interlude does remind us, though, is that it's still much simpler to go zorching carrier strike groups around the globe than land forces. Or something. So, uh, don't forget that.