There is a reason our carriers aren't forward as often as in the past:
U.S. aircraft carrier deployments this year have been at a 25-year low, and there were 22 days in 2018 when no carriers were deployed at all. Some pundits might speculate what the Navy is up to, but overall there is good news and some key takeaways.
First, dynamic force employment (DFE) is an innovative Department of Defense (DoD) strategy to keep U.S. adversaries guessing. Historically, when U.S. carrier strike groups operate on the doorsteps of America's adversaries, they have been a powerful force to curb unwanted behaviors. Unfortunately, over the past three decades, the DoD got too predictable with how, when, and where it was deploying its forces, making it easy for adversaries to know how the United States would respond to aggression.
I'm fine with keeping the carriers back in favor of developing multiple-carrier surge capacity. Really, dangling these big targets near potential enemies just gives them an incentive to start a war to take out the assets within reach.
And I still don't know why we can't deploy a carrier air wing forward when carriers aren't forward, if Navy air rather than Air Force air is important to have.
