In the waters of the Arabian Sea and across the bases of the Gulf, fifty thousand American service members have entered a sustained state of combat readiness — not in response to a single crisis, but as a deliberate posture against the possibility of one. Iran and its aligned forces have signaled intent to strike at the energy infrastructure that threads the global economy together, and the U.S. military has answered with a quiet, organized form of anticipation. The Strait of Hormuz has long been a hinge point in the world's material life, and those now stationed near it understand that their