President Trump and the Pentagon plan to announce a reduction of U.S. troop levels from 5,200 to about 3,500, a senior defense official told Fox News.

The coordinated announcement is expected sometime Wednesday and the Iraqis are aware of the decision and are on board, according to the official.

Trump to award Medal of Honor on 9/11 to soldier who rescued 75 hostages

A senior administration official discussed the draw-down with reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday night, on condition of anonymity.

ISIS launched more than 100 attacks in Iraq in August, a sharp uptick from previous month

The top U.S. general for the Middle East said in July that he believed the U.S. will keep a smaller but enduring presence in Iraq.

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said he believes the Iraqis welcome the U.S. and coalition troops, especially in the ongoing fight to keep IS fighters from taking hold of the country again.

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The Pentagon’s top leaders said Thursday they can see a “light at the end of the tunnel” of the COVID-19 pandemic and stressed that the U.S. military remains a force in readiness, with fewer than 2,000 cases out of more than two million troops available to support contingency operations.

During an internet broadcast Thursday morning, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley warned adversaries that it would be a “terrible, tragic mistake if they thought that … [they] can take advantage of any opportunities … at a time of crisis.”

“The U.S. military is very, very capable to conduct whatever operations are necessary to defend the American people,” Milley said. “We will adapt ourselves to operating in a COVID-19 environment. We are already doing that.”

As of Thursday, 1,898 service members had confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 389 soldiers, 367 airmen, 164 Marines, 597 sailors and 381 National Guard members.

Given that the Defense Department has 2.3 million troops, including the National Guard and reserve components, the services are “ready today and will be ready tomorrow,” Milley said.

“I’m absolutely confident that we are very ready to handle any mission that comes our way,” added Defense Secretary Mark Esper during the broadcast. “Why is that? It’s because our commanders and NCOs have taken measures to protect our members.”

Less than .09 percent of U.S. forces have confirmed COVID-19 infections, and nearly all are “mild or moderate” cases, according to Esper. Sixty-four service members have been hospitalized for the coronavirus.

By contrast, .13 percent of the U.S. population have confirmed cases of the illness.

“We also have far, far, far smaller numbers of hospitalizations. …. I attribute that to the measures we took very early on, going all the way back to 3 February when we issued our first guidance to the field in regard to health protection,” Esper said.

According to Esper and Milley, the DoD has more than 50,000 service members responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes 29,400 National Guard members, as well as 17,000 members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and thousands of military medical personnel.

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said Thursday that many of the military medical personnel are now serving in civilian hospitals, filling in for staff members who have become ill or need rest — especially in hard-hit areas like New York City.

The strategy is a switch from the initial intent for military health professionals to treat patients transported to field hospitals such as the Javits Center in New York, he said.

“We have thousands of reservists — medical professionals — deployed all over the country from their normal lives at home to the middle of New York City, in hours or days, leaving their families, leaving their homes, running toward the trouble,” Hyten said.

To date, 113 service members of the 1,898 infected have recovered from the coronavirus. One service member, Army National Guard Capt. Douglas Linn Hickok, died March 28.

A sailor from the carrier Theodore Roosevelt became gravely ill Thursday and was transported to an intensive care unit after being discovered unresponsive in his room by shipmates, Hyten said.

“We are hoping that the sailor recovers. We are praying for him and his families and his shipmates,” he added.

— Patricia Kime can be reached at patriciankime@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/04/09/terrible-tragic-mistake-top-general-warns-enemies-not-test-us-military-readiness.html

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U.S. Central Command closed out the week by sending a strong message to Iran regarding the “enormous” firepower of nearby carriers the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Harry S. Truman.

The recent killing of U.S. Army Spc. Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts, and British Army Reservist Lance Cpl. Brodie Gillon by Iran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah appears to have partly prompted the first dual-use of carriers in the region since 2012.

CENTCOM’s official Twitter account put out a direct quote by Gen Frank McKenzie saying, “I would caution Iran and its proxies from attempting a response that would endanger U.S. and coalition forces or our partners.”

A follow-up tweet from the account reiterated: “U.S. Central Command is well postured to defend our forces around the region and to respond to any further aggression against our forces.”

“We’re going to keep them for a while,” the officer said at a Pentagon press briefing Friday, Business Insider first reported. “The beauty of the aircraft carrier is this. It has enormous offensive capabilities, it has enormous defensive capabilities, and it has mobility,” he explained. “The carriers are very important to us, and we know the Iranians watch them very closely too.”

The outlet also quoted former White House national security adviser John Bolton as saying, “[This was done to] send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”

Sending both carriers to the region also comes in the wake of January’s killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian military’s Quds force, by U.S. forces.

President Trump approved the strike, which took place at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, after an embassy siege that killed the American contractor.

“General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more … but got caught,” Mr. Trump tweeted Jan. 3.

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