I think the author missed a few wars in which a lot of people, including Americans, got killed contributing to calm and resolve.
We have been here before. With Carter we were downsizing the military, especially the navy, and the USSR was gaining ground all over the world, gobbling up southern Africa and most of the third world was trying to be allies with it. It was making great strides in Latin America. But Carter only lasted one term and was followed by Reagan. You only get one Reagan in a nation’s history, alas. And the opponent then was not suicidally inclined. Communist Russians were at least rational in their calculation of risk and advantage and weren’t keen on the idea of themselves dying to achieve world domination. This time we find ourselves in a similar situation with Islam rampaging in the ME and taking over Europe kind of like the Sovs were taking over Southern Asia and Africa but this time the opposition is NOT rational and most would love to die to bring on universal Islam. And this time we don’t have an Asperger’s syndrome President. We have the enemy’s active agent as our President. And whether he is stupid or a genius is irrelevant. Valerie (Iranian) Jarrett and her backups take care of that part.