Posted on 10/24/2025 12:22:28 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, in the latest escalation and buildup of military forces in the region, the Pentagon announced Friday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to deploy to U.S. Southern Command to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post.
Deploying an aircraft carrier is a major escalation of military power in a region that has already seen an unusually large U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off Venezuela.
The U.S. military has conducted its 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, Hegseth said earlier Friday, blaming the Tren de Aragua gang for operating the vessel and leaving six people dead in the Caribbean Sea.
The pace of the strikes has quickened in recent days from one every few weeks when they first began to three this week, killing a total of at least 43 people since September. Two of the most recent strikes were carried out in the eastern Pacific Ocean, expanding the area where the military has launched attacks and shifting to where much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers is smuggled.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
They should rename it The USS Nancy Reagan. Just for this mission.
I wonder if there is a ship named for a First Lady. Probably not
What First Lady will be the first one of it were to happen?
I like Dolley Madison.
Dolley is a good pick. Gets my vote.
Why doesn’t Trump bomb, devastate, and destroy the coca fields?
Trump is baiting Maduro. It might work. Drug cartel members are notoriously nuts. Some low level clown might just launch a missile or two. Much like the jihadis, notoriously undisciplined.
How about the USS Mary Jo Kopechne?
I must have missed her tenure as First Lady.
How about the USS Charlie Kirk.
Maybe but she ended up being a very effective woman in her way, keeping Ted out of the White House. We owe a debt of gratitude to her.
Now that is an awesome idea.
We could also name an LSD (Landing Ship, Dock) after William J Clinton. I think it quite fitting.
I see what you did there.
Noriega was a notorious drug dealer and dictator of Panama. We kidnapped him, brought his regime down and put him in jail in the United States. He never walked free until 2017 when death set him free. He died in Panama but still in custody. He died from a brain tumor.
Maduro is a notorious dictator and drug dealer. I think I can see his future and it is not good for him.
I forgot to add this.
I lived and worked in Venazuela in the 70s before Chavez. In the oilfield this was a very desired posting. Life was good in Venezuela and they had the highest standard of living in Latin America. I loved it. It was corrupt but no less corrupt than Washington DC.
Bringing back the Monroe Doctrine?
Whelp. This is the 2nd-to-last piece of the puzzle. Need a Ranger battalion and another US Marine battalion (rein), with an 18th Airborne Brigade as the theater reserve.
Then it’s a party.
Did it have an expiration date?
The last few administrations allowed China to gain a huge foothold in Central and South America.
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