[UPDATE] Pentagon sends about 9,000 more sailors and Marines toward Iran on the carrier Theodore Roosevelt and three amphibious ships

The Pentagon is sending two groups of ships to the Middle East, about 9,000 people in all, while Trump weighs more strikes on Iran. The Marines. The Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group (three ships built to put Marines ashore) carries more than 4,000 Marines and sailors. About 2,200 of them are in the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (a Marine force of about 2,200 that lives on those ships and can land on short notice). A Pacific Fleet spokesperson called the San Diego departure "routine operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations." The carrier. The USS Theodore Roosevelt brings the rest of the roughly 9,000 people and is due in the region by the end of November, per the Financial Times. The pay. Starting Thursday, Oct. 1, troops taking direct fire can draw up to $450 a month in hostile fire pay (extra pay for serving where they can be shot at), per The Washington Post. (TS: two are there now, and Navy reporting has the Roosevelt relieving one of them, per USNI) Still open. How long the extra ships stay. The Washington Post and Bloomberg report the U.S. may soon have three carriers in the region.