I think dark skies are better if you have your scene detail and position well understood and are using ground based designators for strikes over large open areas and things like that. But if you're inserting into unfamiliar urban areas, you're gonna need light in some form- IR illuminators or the Moon, for NVG performance to be effective especially when moving quickly. (at least, using the types of devices conventional forces are flying with). I read that we knocked the power out to the entire base complex so there wasn't much cultural lighting in the target area. I suspect the risk of CFIT was deemed more concerning than the need for covert movement, but it will be interesting to see if we learn more about the rationale behind the weather go/no-go criteria. 

On Mon, Jan 5, 2026 at 8:02 AM Brian Miller <brianjmiller1977@gmail.com> wrote:
There were certainly plenty of them within striking distance.  I think Colombia and Cuba might be next.  It’s actually interesting how little naval activity is taking place here.  One thing that I also found interesting is that it was a super moon that night.  I flew into Miami at 6 am that morning and it was one of the biggest, brightest moons I’ve seen in a while.  Very noticeable under the crystal clear skies.  I looked it up and moonrise in Caracas was around 7 pm that night and didn’t set until 12 hours later with almost 100% illumination.  Certainly not a SOF guy so no idea if it means anything or not, but I always thought darker was better for these kinds of things.  



On Sun, Jan 4, 2026 at 2:58 PM <mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com> wrote:
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