Trying to prevent worsening the coronavirus spread within the military, the Pentagon had a travel freeze order in place through May 11. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed that this will be extended beyond May 11, and that there will likely be more reviews every 15 days or so.
Esper says this restriction will continue until there is no concern that they will spread coronavirus to other units and communities. Many militaries are dialing back overseas deployments over this concern, but the US is mostly hunkering down and hoping to wait out the virus.
That could be a long wait, however, with the virus likely to be a concern for a very long time, and with an opportunity to move away from endless US wars to both save money and ease concerns about spreading the virus, the military seems reluctant to do more than the bare minimum.
With the UN calling for global ceasefires related to the pandemic, and other nations not saying no, this is an opportunity for the US to take a leadership role in fighting the common enemy of the coronavirus, improving relations in a major opportunity.
The travel freeze has been in place for some time, and is meant to prevent cross-contamination among US military units and to keep personnel travel to the absolute minimum. In practice, absolute minimum would be much less than is going on currently, but the military remains determined to emphasize its readiness for fights.
Unfortunately, a travel freeze also prevents withdrawals….