This article is a fantastic look at how America fights its wars. What are your thoughts?

COL Sam Russell — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 07:42:31 -0500

Written by Aaron Bazin, an Army strategist, this article is a phenomenal way of looking at how America has fought its wars. He poses and answers visually seven questions:
1) How Many Years In Its History Has America Been at War?
2) Where Has America Fought?
3) Why Has America Fought?
4) How Does America Fight ?
5) Who Are America’s Formal Defense Partners?
6) Why Is the American Military So Attracted to Technology?
7) How Much Does It All Cost?

Seven Charts That Help Explain American War — The Bridge

Recently, the Washington Post published two interesting articles that offered 40 maps and 40 charts that explained the w…

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 13 at 2015 8:10 AM

PO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 08:10:54 -0500

So technically ... we never actually in a Declared war for ... very long time?

Response by SSgt Alex Robinson made Nov 13 at 2015 8:31 AM

SSgt Alex Robinson — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 08:31:17 -0500

Interesting post. Thank you for sharing.

Response by LTC Kevin B. made Nov 14 at 2015 9:11 AM

LTC Kevin B. — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 09:11:58 -0500

I know Aaron very well; he was in my small group during ILE. I just sent him a note about this thread on Facebook.

That's an interesting article. The only things I'd add as a critique/discussion is that he didn't fully answer question #1 and I'd be interested in an expanded discussion on #4 and #7.

Regarding #1, instead of addressing how many years we've been at war, he addressed the time periods where Congress has sanctioned war (either through a formal declaration or through an approval process). The years that fall under "no Congressional authorization" include times of peace and times of conflict. A conservative interpretation is that we've only been at war for 21 years of our existence (only during a formally declared war). A liberal interpretation is that we've been at war (meaning any form of major conflict) much more than that, but you can't determine the number of years with what is presented.

Regarding #4, I'd like to see him compare/contrast between what is presented (a notional way that America designs its operations) with what has actually happened, at least in recent conflicts (how America has actually designed and conducted its operations). Heck, an entire article could be devoted to that for a single conflict.

Regarding #7, the article and the sources that were provided are unclear on the total overall cost. The sources provided refer to defense spending, but they don't clarify whether that spending is the baseline budgets, or includes the additional funding for war activities that fall outside of the baseline budget. Additionally, a tremendous amount of spending on national defense now occurs outside of the military (most notably within the DHS, DOE, and DOJ, and arguably the Department of State). Include those expenditures and the picture could change quite a bit.

The big takeaway I have from the article is that "America" really hasn't been at "war" for a long, long time. A small segment of our country has fought numerous conflicts on behalf of our politicians (and their ideas of our "national interests"). However, we have not fully engaged our entire country, meaning everybody feels a little bit of the pain (implementation of a draft, nationalization of critical industries, rationing, etc.), in multiple generations now. We've funded our conflicts primarily through debt, primarily on the backs of a smaller and smaller segment of our population, and private industry has profited greatly. In my opinion, when the country goes to war, the entire country should go to war. If we were to do that, I'd be willing to bet that a) we'd fight in fewer conflicts and b) when we do....we'd kick some serious butt in those conflicts.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 14 at 2015 9:57 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 09:57:09 -0500

Thanks for all the comments. Especially in light of the events in Paris, I think that there is something to be said for declaring war and seeking an unconditional surrender.