We have spent the last quarter century mostly fighting small unit actions against poorly equipped , poorly trained insurgents and terrorists equipped with AK47s, PKMs, IEDs and RPGs
Even Iraq in 2004 was against a much degraded Iraqi military that never fully recovers from Desert Storm.
A bad day is a handful of casualties from an IED ambush.
A really bad day is a tank or aircraft being destroyed.
The modern battlefield is a very lethal place.
In a real war against a near peer adversary, we are going to take really heavy losses in people and hardware - on both sides. Our political leadership is accustomed to the pace and consequences of this low intensity conflict and the policy wonks really think they have the war thing figured out.
This is a dangerous place top be because they are making military intervention policies and decisions while totally under estimating how bad things could go if their ill advised course of action leads to a full scale, near peer conflict.
The Ukraine is a prime example of this ignorant arrogance.
So is the Gaza and Yemen and so was Afghanistan.
Well reasoned post.
The arrogance and incompetence of the Biden admin is putting us on a very dangerous, if not catastrophic, path.