For the last several weeks, the U.S. military has been signaling to anyone who will listen that it is planning an offensive in Marjah,  a town in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province said to the a nexus of the nation’s opium production. It is also a hot bed of Taliban activity. And the hope is that if the Marines can flush the Taliban out and set the conditions for the Afghan government forces to retake the town, the  government will demonstrate to its populace its ability to push out the Taliban from its towns. You can read our coverage of the upcoming offensive here and here.

It turns out the military is signaling the upcoming offensive to members of Congress as well, specifically those looking to visiting Afghanistan. These are often referred to as CODELs, short for congressional delegations.

These visits are common (there are 535 potential visitors after all) and demand tremendous resources of those on the ground – commanders’ time, the time of the troops and helicopters to take them from base to base quickly. Most soldiers don’t enjoy it, frankly. They complain they spend their time answering questions that congress members could have learned through Google. At times, they feel like political props forced to pose in scores of photos that eventually make their way onto campaign literature and the like.

While CODELs are often eager to visit Afghanistan, they are just as eager to leave. As such, they demand helicopters in a war zone where transportation is at a premium. Their need for travel usually supersedes everyone else’s. In light of that, the U.S. military has quietly asked the CODELs to delay their trips until after the operation in Marjah as they want to focus the use of helicopters on the war, not the Hill.

That the military had to ask the CODELs to delay their trip speaks to the helicopter shortage in Afghanistan and the tremendous amount of effort CODELs demand of commanders on the ground.