Dempsey has said Obama told him to come to him on a case-by-case basis if the air strikes fail to achieve. In other words, he’ll eventually get the green light for ground troops in combat. It’s when, not if, because the air strikes cannot achieve anything without ground troops to solidify gains, and the Iraqi national troops have a lousy track record. They were the ones who lost the country in the first place.
The boots hit the ground when a pilot gets shot down and falls into the hands of ISIS. Then, all bets BETTER be off.