Didn't I read the other day that the US military is planning the future US forces around small quick, skirmishes...that they think that will be where all the future threats are??? .i.e instead of a major all out war?
In other words, we are banking everything on the assumption that the books Thomas L. Friedman has written are the gospel truth, there will only be fighting terrorists and failed states (with the occasional looney tin pot thrown in) and never again shall we ever face either a new great power threat or an axis. Look at the thousands of years of history. What is your bet?