I almost don’t know what to say about Pete Hegseth’s social media post (see above). It is juvenile, counterproductive and dangerous. During my time living in Central America, I learned a very important piece of wisdom… i.e., The fish dies by its mouth. We need a comparable expression for social media posts like this one. Hegseth, like some angry teenager, is upset that Trump’s version of Operation Prosperity Guardian is a bust.
Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), which was initiated in December 2023 under the Biden administration, continues to operate under its original name, but has been executed with an intensified ops tempo, as measured by bombing sorties and missile strikes inside Yemen. In February 2025, operational leadership transitioned from Combined Task Force 153 to Destroyer Squadron 50, a U.S. Navy surface warfare unit. The Trump team labored under the false assumption that the Biden folks did not make a serious effort to destroy the Houthis’ arsenal of missiles and drones. The Trumpers believed that they could bomb the Houthis into submission. Instead, the US is demonstrating to all countries in the region the limits of its naval and air power.
The truth of the matter is that old Uncle Sam has an impotence problem. Locating and destroying mobile missile platforms is a daunting task, especially in the rugged terrain of Yemen. After seven weeks of bombing the Houthis, Uncle Sam’s carrier strike group has failed to quell the Houthis. Not that the US had a great reputation to begin with, but the bombing of civilian targets inside Yemen, which has produced scores of dead women and children, is only fueling greater hatred of the United States.
Despite more than 600 bombing sorties, the Houthis continue to launch missiles and drones at US ships in the Red Sea and targets inside Israel. If Houthi reports are accurate, they have shot down one MQ-9 Reaper drone every week since the start — i.e., seven. With an average cost of $35 million per drone, that means the cost so far is $245 million.
Now, in the wake of the loss of another F/A-18 Hornet — this one fell off the carrier and sank into the Red Sea — Hegseth is venting his frustration at Iran. It is not Iran’s fault that the crew on the US aircraft carrier failed to properly secure the jet and the tractor, which fell off the carrier during an emergency evasive manuever. That was a $70 million oopsie. Since Trump’s 15 March order to renew attacks on Yemen, the US has lost almost $500 million in planes and drones and failed to guarantee safe passage for Israeli vessels daring to enter the Red Sea. Good job, Mr. Hegseth.
Reprinted with permission from Sonar21.
