Rattlers in Jacksonville and Pensacola: Update on the Florida War

Though resistance is stiff, Coalition leaders are still confident in our ability to continue the devastation of Florida. The combination of saturation and precision air and missile strikes has continued to prove effective in our elimination of the enemy's combat capabilities. In addition, the blockade continues to sap resistance and munitions from their combat efforts. Our satellites have given us a decisive edge in the intelligence field, as we continue to gain actionable intelligence which allows us to consistently and effectively counter Rimskayan operations. The naval mining of the Florida Coast is 80% complete, supplmenting our crippling of the enemy's attempts to traverse the high seas. Finally, our cyber warfare operations are effectively crippling enemy infrastructure, preventing them from waging any sort of war effort.

Now, it is time for the next phase of combat to begin: preparation for the assault on Jacksonville. With a force size of approximately three hundred thousand soldiers (about 1/13th of the total coalition's troops and 1/6th of the coalition troops actively engaged in the war effort) on the Northeastern border, and relentless airstrikes on highways behind Jacksonville, the coalition now prepares for its first major ground incursion. In preparation for this ground incursion, all major highways into Jacksonville have been bombed relentlessly. The St. John's River has been mined extensively through the airlifting of the naval mines via Herc C-165 utility aircraft, which have dropped the naval mines into the river below. A few aircraft were shot down, but for the most part, the mission appears to have been a success. Our latest intelligence indicates that due to our previous SEAD operations, most of the mining went uncontested and the aircraft were able to get their jobs done. Even if only 30% of the mines made their way into the river, it is estimated that naval transport would have still been significantly slowed down. 

To supplement this, airstrikes have continued to target infrastructure both civilian and military. SEAD operations on mobile SAM and early warning units in the region have increased in intensity, whilst missile and artillery strikes have focused on power plants, cutting the city of Jacksonville off from electricity. In addition, a naval contingent has engaged in coastal bombardment to supplement these efforts, as well as to specifically focus on demoralizing Rimskayan civilians and military units alike. Missile and airstrikes and have softened up the front lines to prep the ground forces for entry into Jacksonville.

In Pensacola, Legio continues to lead the way in the seizure of the city, while the rest of the Coalition provides, air, naval, and intelligence support. The United Imperium has also lent a Special Forces detachment to aid Legio in the seizure of Pensacola. Progress in this side of things appears to be going well, and it is expected that in spite of the valiant resistance of Rimskayan troops, the city will fall into Coalition hands sooner rather than later. 

Finally, the implementation of the systems redundancy doctrine is complete! Would-be saboteurs of coalition efforts will find the effects of their efforts reduced greatly as a result of the redundancy and decentralization initiatives of this plan.

Diplomacy: New Pacifica has joined the coalition in full! Welcome New Pacifica. The coalition size is now in excess of 240 cities. Attempts to create an aid corridor for Rimskayan civilians have broken down due to Coalition dissatisfaction with the offered terms. We will be keeping diplomatic channels open if a satisfactory offer is made to the Coalition. Melon and Uchama have threatened Beanstopia with war. if they choose to do this, The United Imperium will do whatever it can to defend the territorial integrity of Beanstopia, and despite the war effort in Rimskaya, we are confident that we would easily be able to handle two more microscopic nations in combat on our own in a defensive war (which isn't to say that Rimskaya is microscopic, quite the contrary actually, but both Melon and Uchama are tiny compared to everyone else). Also Melon is weird for sending 1 million M-16s to Rimskaya when Rimskaya has 200k total troops (which is funny since having fired the M-4 myself (the successor to the M-16) I can assure you that that particular firearm is not meant to be dual wielded (forget about penta-wielded!)).