There was C-17 buildup for air defenses since 1/18. The tanker blitz didn't start until like 2 weeks ago.Something to think about is just how absurd it is to have little to no information from the President and DoD. There hasn't been any update from the Pentagon briefing room during this entire build up over the last couple of months. The President has put out a couple of pre-recorded short statements.
This is the largest deployment of US Military since the Iraq war in 2003 and all we have are snippets from civilian reports across the Middle East.