21st Century War

This piece is an opinion. It speaks with a little history and some John Steinbeck notes from his six months in Vietnam. He went  in-country with the ground pounding troops carrying a weapon and enduring the same suffering as they did and he did it at 64 years of age.

Following that, I offer my suggestions on how the military might operate in this century. I realize that I am not a military tactician  and I mean no disrespect to veterans who served during Vietnam (as I did) Iraq or Afghanistan. All of those veterans deserve a great deal of respect for the duty they did, while the politicians and top brass who decided what to do, when to do it were perhaps short on judgement and tactics (my opinion again.)

In reading Steinbeck’s notes/letters from Vietnam, I saw that he was initially for the war (two of his sons served in combat there). Steinbeck had free reign to go where he wanted, when he wanted and he covered most of the country. He (unlike many reporters) saw what he wrote about, while some reporters just stayed in their Saigon hotels and wrote what army public affairs officers handed them. Steinbeck went on patrols in jungles, across rice paddies, air assaults with the 1st Air Cavalry, flights with forward observer planes and on riverine operations in the delta.

By the end of Steinbeck’s time in Vietnam his mind was changed. He realized the war could not be won. He saw that the war was shaping up to be like his 1942 book “The Moon is Down” where an outside  force occupies another country and later collapses from no support and even open hostility from the inhabitants of that country. The occupiers became the victim. According to Steinbeck, by late 1967 81% of the Vietnamese just wanted the foreigners to leave, while just 4% cared about victory over communism. I listened to the L. B. Johnson tapes from the Whitehouse that were released after his death. Johnson knew the US would not, could not win the war in Vietnam. He decided to double down with troops because he could not figure out a way to end the war and save face. After 10 plus years and 58,000 dead Americans the US left and just months later everything went back to what was their normal, as if we were never there. This should have been a lesson learned, but apparently not so.

Going back further in time, the British had superior numbers and better trained troops than the US colonials, but lost the war because they tried to take control in a country that they did not know or understand. The Germans in WWII took over western Europe and could not hold it. At present, we have been in Afghanistan for 16 years now; the country is still not stable. It never will be, because like Vietnam we do not have support of the locals and cannot really tell who is friend and who is foe. Iraq is after 14 years just now beginning to become better because the Iraqis are finally starting to take back their own country, with American support instead of the US full on trying to do the job for them.

So now, again with the admonition I am not a military tactician, I will just make a suggestion. 21st century warfare should not be huge numbers of boots on the ground, or long-term engagements that become very costly and a nightmare for logistic operations. Instead, now that we have great amphibious assault ships like the USS Kearsarge that can carry 1894 troops, helicopters, vertical takeoff Harrier jets for air support and Osprey aircraft for deep insertion of troops they should be used when necessary. With this capability, rapid, forceful, debilitating strikes in and out can be made before a counterattack can be mounted. This should have minimal casualties and at the same time provide maximum terror impact, letting our enemies know they are in danger any time, any day we select. Fear is paralyzing to humans. It makes them worry and not think as they would when they are not worried.

The old ways, where armies lined up in uniforms and battled it out over terrain, I hope they are for the most part over. Drones, air attacks, cruise missiles and rapid amphibious attacks, with troops engaging with in and out strikes are, I think the future.