War: The American Way
October 15, 2022 by Michael Baumgarten
There is an unfortunate disconnect when it comes to the American perception of war. The average American seems to think that war is conducted by drone strikes and jets dropping precision munitions on folks living in tents. Yes, we do kill our enemies this way but it is not the only way. Unfortunately what it does is paint a false picture of the reality of armed conflict.
While we have many advanced weapons at our disposal, war is still essentially the same. To be decisive we must place American riflemen in range of opposing and similarly armed counterparts.
Violence on this level has not changed, only the popular and public perception of it. Americans at home want their wars run clean and cold, through the digital optics on board fast-moving airframes delivering their ordinance. This is a problem because this is not how war works.
Let’s take a look at some recent conflicts, starting with WW2. Often looked back on with nostalgia and reverence for being the last time the good guys fought real bad guys. The shine of metallic P-51 Mustang fuselages and flashy nose art can be distracting from the fact that our grandparents were killing each other by any means possible. In this conflict, there was no mistake about the goal or the nature of the conflict. Everything was a valid target, be it soldier or civilian. High-level bombers rained high explosive and incendiary death down on the civilian populations of their enemies.
https://havokjournal.com/culture/war-american-way/
