Matt Bracken
@Matt_Bracken48
I make these maps because I’m convinced most Americans have no concept of scale when it comes to warfare. 🧵
I point to all the folks high-fiving over a single Marine battalion landing team on its way to the conflict zone. An Amphibious Ready Group’s BLT means about 1,200 combat Marines going ashore.
By comparison, and please look at the chart and the islands, Okinawa took 4 Army and 3 Marine divisions 82 days to conquer, at the cost of 12,500 American KIA and 36,000 WIA. Okinawa is smaller than Qeshm.
Iwo Jima, smaller than Larak Island, took a month and 6,800 Marine KIA and 19,000 WIA to subdue.
On both islands, US Navy battleships and cruisers spent weeks blasting every suspected Japanese position with 8″ to 16″ cannons. All the experts were sure no Japs could be left alive. The experts were wrong.
The Iranians have spent decades digging in for this “Big Event.” The Iranian IRGC Shia Islam code of martyrdom is as strong as the Japanese code of Bushido during WW2. They will not surrender, IMHO.
It doesn’t matter if we turn Teheran (700 miles north) into a parking lot.
I make these maps because I'm convinced most Americans have no concept of scale when it comes to warfare. 🧵
I point to all the folks high-fiving over a single Marine battalion landing team on its way to the conflict zone. An Amphibious Ready Group's BLT means about 1,200 combat… pic.twitter.com/aDX3RYggeB— Matt Bracken (@Matt_Bracken48) March 16, 2026
— Matt Bracken (@Matt_Bracken48) March 16, 2026
5.
"If only this dire outcome could have been foreseen."
From April, before the "12-Day-War" of June 2025.https://t.co/4ElToVqlf2 pic.twitter.com/DZifDjaWmT— Matt Bracken (@Matt_Bracken48) March 16, 2026