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FWIW Andrew Bacevich is a self-described conservative with a view of US foreign policy that is deeply skeptical that military power is an all-purpose salve that it's often used as. This has put him at odds at times with the current President as well as both of his predecessors. He's also a retired Army Colonel who served in Vietnam who earned a PhD from Princeton and lost a son to combat in Iraq. All this to say: read him for yourself and figure out if you agree or disagree with his thoughts. I don't count myself in the camp that agrees with him reflexively, but I respect his thinking enough to at least read his writing on occasion. My recommendation is to start here, published in 2008.

Say, Europe, Japan, et al, we, the US are net exporters of oil/energy now. Other than the principal of freedom of navigation, the Straits are not nearly as important to us now as they are to you. We'll put a few Patriot batteries in Saudi Arabia, y'all got the rest. If it's important to you, you'll step up. We can be fine "leading from behind" on this one. The economic squeeze we are applying to the Mullahs and all the apparatus that relies on them for their cheap gas, pensions, etc, is working just fine. Sure beats us sending gazillions of dollars to Tehran via clandestine cargo planes any day.

Except the Saudi’s have consistently shown themselves to be one of the most incompetent fighting forces in the history of warfare (billions of dollars in some of the best US military hardware hasn’t doesn’t mean anything when you’re unwilling to maintain it or learn how to employ it effectively). They’re not gonna go after Iran on their own, they’re barely holding their own against the Houthis. I’d highly encourage anyone interested in what’s unfolding in the Gulf right now to read Andrew Bacevich’s America’s War for the Greater Middle East. It’s a fairly depressing read; there’s a lot of historical parallels going on right now (understanding that it’s not direct ie history doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme).

I believe this explains everything when it comes to the Navy and this unfortunate situation:

Pending further investigations, the problem here almost certainly isn't what anyone in the Air Force did, it's that the President has not divested his personal financial stake in and control of numerous businesses. While serving as President, he personally benefits from these businesses that both create the perception of corruption as well as break what I think is pretty clear language in the constitution & subsequent court cases and DOJ guidelines about the President taking money/gifts/etc. from foreign powers (i.e. emoluments). Jimmy Carter put his family peanut farm in a blind trust when he was elected, and DJT should have done the same with his businesses. The fact that the President has made millions off of stays and events at his hotels that very likely would not have taken place were he not President is the issue - this stuff with the USAF is another (small) straw on this particular camel's back. A couple dozen airmen staying at Turnberry pales in comparison to what takes place at the President's DC hotel on a weekly basis.

Everything Bacevich has written should be required reading.

Maybe for all you anti-Trumpers. TL;DR version of Bacevich's views: Obama's approach to Iran was great. Trump is a disaster.