15th MEU onboard the Tonnerre...pics by Staff Sgt. Vitaliy Rusavskiy & Sgt. Jessica Y. Lucio

I still think that this is the ultimate expression of a faulty concept.  Penny packets of US forces deployed worldwide is not a deterrence.  It's a red flag to a bull.

Someone one day will do a count.  Someone will figure that the US forces are overstretched.

The more I see stuff like this the more I think of the Roman Legion at the frontier. 

Forward deployment didn't prevent the barbarian hordes from invading  Rome and sacking it and and won't prevent the Chinese horde from trying to destroy us or prevent future wars.