John,
General Ham was or should have been directly involved.....the Admiral was on the Stennis in the Persian Gulf which is Fifth Fleet Water. Perhaps I might get my ruler out and actually measure the distance from a point south of Hormuz to Benghazi....but it would seem a long way away for any Air/Ground reaction as compared to Sigonella in Italy.
I wonder if there was a Carrier in the Med which is Sixth Fleet water?
We have two Carriers in the Persian Gulf now....the Stennis deployed early due to tension with Iran.