[drop 50 and fire for effect]

If you want to keep the barbarians at bay and protect civilized people, there is only one way to do that:

"You may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, and wipe it clean of life - but if you desire to defend it, protect it,and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman Legions did - by putting your soldiers in the mud."

T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War: A Study In Unpreparedness, 1963

[Lou L]

I wasn’t aware of T.R. Fehrenbach’s writings, but that’s exactly what I had in mind.

[DrPretorius]

You wrote: If you want to keep the barbarians at bay and protect civilized people, there is only one way to do that:

“You may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, and wipe it clean of life - but if you desire to defend it, protect it,and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman Legions did - by putting your soldiers in the mud.”

This is absolute nonsense on steroids. I realize this passes for strategic thinking nowadays, but it is total idiocy. Rather than protecting this nation, the fact that we are stationed in over 150 locations around the world fighting never-ending wars ad infinitum is bankrupting this country and will lead to our destruction, which is exactly what happened to the Roman Empire. The fact that Trump is trying to put a stop to the neo-con insanity of the military-industrial complex and their warmongering may be the primary reason to support him right now.