Georgia-based troops seen playing key role as U.S. war unfolds in Iran
Military experts say Georgia-based service members have likely played roles in ongoing U.S. airstrikes on Iran while other troops are probably on alert for potential deployment should ground forces invade the country.
Pentagon and other defense officials, citing “operations security,” have declined to confirm if any of Georgia’s bases have been directly involved in Operation Epic Fury, which entered its sixth week Saturday.
But a pair of retired generals with strong familiarity with Georgia say the crucial role of Army, Navy, Air Force and National Guard units here will likely continue to expand the longer the war continues.
“I think Georgia is probably decisively already engaged in this effort,” said Bill Caldwell IV, a retired three-star Army general, who led the 82nd Airborne Division at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg and was president of Georgia Military College in Milledgeville for more than a decade.
“You can probably assume Moody Air Force Base has been really busy,” he added.
Moody, outside Valdosta, is home to the 23rd Fighter Group’s A-10 “Warthog” attack planes, which Caldwell described as a “very strategic response” unit. He said the planes are especially useful in missions like those going on across Iran.
“Now that we have complete air dominance, these A-10s can operate at will. Those A-10s that are down at Moody, I would not be at all surprised if they had not already been deployed,” said Caldwell, a former executive assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Pentagon recently doubled the number of A-10 Warthogs deployed to the Middle East, The New York Times reported.
Caldwell also said it wouldn’t be surprising if combat search-and-rescue teams from Moody might have already been sent to the Middle East.
A pilot was rescued after an A-10 crashed Friday near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials. Another U.S. crew member was rescued Friday after a different fighter jet, an F-15E Strike Eagle, was shot down over Iran, The Associated Press reported.
The military has a significant presence in Georgia, where annual defense spending has topped $15 billion. The state is home to several major installations serving more than 120,000 active duty, National Guard troops, reservists and civilian Defense Department workers, according to one estimate.
Georgia also has military airfields, Marine Corps logistics and submarine bases and the headquarters for key military units. Among those units are the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning in Columbus, the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart in Hinesville and the Georgia National Guard’s 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, all of which fought in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Thousands more U.S. troops have been deployed to the Middle East in recent days, according to The Associated Press, with President Donald Trump not ruling out ground forces entering Iran even as he declares U.S. military objectives are “nearing completion.” About 50,000 U.S. troops are in the Middle East, roughly 10,000 more than before the war began, according to various estimates.
Caldwell suggested submarines from Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in St. Marys on Georgia’s coast could play roles with such a large Navy presence already in the Middle East. “You don’t put that kind of fleet over there, of (aircraft) carrier battle groups, without submarine support,” Caldwell said.
He also highlighted the 75th Ranger Regiment, which the Army describes as its “premier direct-action raid force.” The regiment is headquartered at Fort Benning and has a battalion at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah.
“There is a very high probability that the Ranger regimental headquarters is already forward deployed along with at least one of its battalions, with another one ready to rotate in and replace the one that’s there,” Caldwell said. “So that they can go and do surgical strikes, responses, whatever they may be called upon to do. … We wouldn’t go into a fight without the Rangers. They probably went over early.”
The retired general doesn’t believe there will be any protracted ground war, though he said troops could be sent on quick-strike, “in-and-out” raids.
“There is absolutely no need with what we’re doing to (Iran’s) army, their air force, their navy, their communications, their air-defense systems, their missile systems ... to put boots on the ground,” Caldwell said.
Retired Maj. Gen. Randall Simmons Jr., a Statesboro native who led the Georgia Army National Guard and Joint Task Force North, said combat scenarios involving ground forces would likely involve at least some of the state’s Guard units.
He said Georgia Guard units train for “readiness and lethality” and that the current situation in Iran has, if nothing else, heightened that training.
Simmons also believes any “boots-on-the-ground” operations involving U.S. troops would be “very short-lived.” He also noted a buildup of ground forces already in the region at the ready.
“It may not come to that,” he said of a ground invasion. “Having those Marines sitting right off the coast and the 82nd Airborne in theater, if I was the Iranians, I’d be thinking hard about my choices right now. If ever there is a definition of a deterrent, it would be those two types of fighting forces.”
Military experts also have said other Georgia military installations, including the U.S. Army Cyber Command at Fort Gordon in Augusta and Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, could play roles in Middle East fighting.
About the Author
Joe Kovac Jr. is Macon bureau chief covering Middle Georgia for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
