Sure.
I was there on the West/East border in the late 1980s when The Wall came down.
It was our fixation on “The Big One” that gave us ALL the tools to defeat the second, third and fourth rate powers of the last thirty years. The same tools that we’re putting to good use in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Those IFVs weren’t designed for fighting the Taliban.
Those Blackhawks weren’t designed for Afghanistan, but they’ve proven invaluable.
Remember, losing The Big One was a game-stopper.
Struggling in LICs isn’t going to mean the death of the US, and we still have the time to develop and deploy MRAPs (albiet, at a real cost) and other systems in a fight that will be DECADES, across more than just Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Big One would have been THE “come as you are” war.
No time to bring in materials and reinforcements (regardless of what the NATO “pie in the sky” plans were).
No time to develop new systems.
We are far better off for looking forward and preparing for the greatest threat, than we would have been retooling for another Vietnam.
We could of defeated them with their weapons.
We keep fighting and dieing, and will so, in third world. That’s where the people and wealth are.
Poorly trained, poorly lead vs us poor languaged and poorly understanding the culture and languages. Then we get things like the capture of Baghdad and all the Pentagons Master’s and Doctoral degrees not having a clue what to do, and the Army having to dig up VIETNAM counter insurgency manuals.
But, good. We’re all done with being in third world places.
Now it’s paved roads, Cafes and enemy in snappy uniforms, right?