Standing alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley at the Pentagon on Oct. 11, 2019, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced that additional U.S. troops and assets would be deployed to Saudi Arabia to defend the kingdom’s oil infrastructure. The order came roughly a month after alleged Iranian cruise missiles hit Saudi crude facilities in a pinpoint attack, knocking half of the country’s oil production offline. The deployment at the time increased the U.S. troop presence in the kingdom to 3,000 and essentially turned the U.S. military into security guards for Saudi Arabia’s oil business.

Apparently, some of those U.S. troops are preparing to redeploy. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Pentagon officials are in the process of removing four Patriot missile batteries from Saudi Arabia, coming on top of the departure of two U.S. fighter squadrons from the region and a possible reduction in the U.S. Navy’s presence in the Persian Gulf. While the plan has yet to be officially confirmed by Trump administration officials, one can only hope the redeployment orders proceed quickly.