"We don't do stunts," Secretary of Defense James Mattis said.
Politico first reported last night that the military units deployed to the southern border just before the midterm elections under "Operation Faithful Patriot" will return home beginning this week.
It appears that many service members will spend their Thanksgiving eating MREs within eyesight of civilization, but all of them should be home within weeks.
The general overseeing the deployment told POLITICO on Monday that the first troops will start heading home in the coming days as some are already unneeded, having completed the missions for which they were sent. The returning service members include engineering and logistics units whose jobs included placing concertina wire and other barriers to limit access to ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. [...]
"Our end date right now is 15 December, and I've got no indications from anybody that we'll go beyond that," said Buchanan, who leads the land forces of U.S. Northern Command.
Uh huh.
We don't know if this is a direct consequence of Mad Dog's recent trip to the border (pictured above), but the images of Mattis being unable to tell the troops what their mission is left an unmistakable impression.
The Army was ostensibly deployed to the border to stop the migrant caravan, but they'll be returning home before the caravan even arrives at a port of entry.
This may have been the most expensive deployment of barbed wire in history.