US aircraft carrier readies for ISIS fight

The Bush is one of the newest carriers in the US fleet. On August 8, 2014, jets carried out the first American airstrikes against ISIS.

Those American warplanes flew from the USS George HW Bush, one of the Navy's 10 aircraft carriers.

Back then ISIS was making a lightning dash across Iraq and Syria, seizing town after town and threatening to wipe out entire communities of Iraqi minorities.

"Today I authorized two operations in Iraq -- targeted airstrikes to protect our American personnel, and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain," President Barack Obama said at the time.

Now, more than two years and over 16,000 airstrikes later, the Bush and its crew are once again making preparations to head to the region.

-cnn