FF - there, there. I notice you chose not to actually answer. Quite right, rise above it.
What were the criteria for posting in the Military Aircrew forum again?
But enough petty squabbling...
Rich is right, and we can still sustain a force pretty much anywhere on the high seas with no reliance on HNS. For any largish operation we (and the U.S.) still require STUFT (Ships Taken Up From Trade) in the form of RO-RO/FLO-FLO etc. It's really the only way to move significant amounts of stuff. We will never rely on a C-17 to deploy - it actually can't move nearly enough people/logs and is totally at the whim of a HN and of course massively more vulnerable.