“Someone who isn’t an arm chair general and has some military experience please explain to this old Marine what the hell the US can do militarily in this situation. Because for the life of me I see no military option here. We are coming out of 13 years of constant combat operations. Our troops are tired, our equipment is beat up with zero prospect of replacement anytime soon. Ask yourself this; Is this fight worth the death of just one more soldier, sailor, airman or Marine? I don’t think it is.”
On the ground, there is no option. By the time we start moving troops near there, russia will invade and already occupy Ukraine. Now if we had already stationed troops close by, we could move into Ukraine and the Russian troops would not invade.
What we are left with is air and naval superiority. We can blockade all sea trade with russia. And very few countries can withstand a full blockade due to the interconnectedness of the world economies.
We can also publically announce that we will provide air cover for Ukraine and against any russian invasion. That might deter the russians, or it might not.
We can still do some damage with our ground forces. We have been fighting against irregulars the last few years. Our tanks may be older but still pack a punch. It’s just a matter of getting everything re-directed which would take forever.
I’m sure Putin and his boys are smart enough not to let us build up our forces anywhere close to him.