[Webstral]

In a representative form of government, the people elect folks like themselves. The citizenry of the US largely has avoided military service, so they elect representatives who have avoided service. The last fighting leader was Bush the elder. Perhaps not coincidentally, he was wise enough to lay out strategic objectives for the military and leave the operational aspects to the men in uniform. He also was not interested in winning on the cheap, which the US tried to make work in Iraq until we hand the mess off to the locals, and which we have been trying to make work in Afghanistan.

Interestingly enough, Bush the elder was willing to accept the possibility of tens of thousands of casualties in Operation Desert Storm. He went with the Vietnam-born philosophy that if you need one division, bring three. He listened to his generals and admirals. His son, on the other hand, went with the philosophy that the lowest bidder among his advisors must be the guy with the best plan. He got rid of generals who told him he'd need to put some skin into the game to win the right way. It may be a coincidence that one of these men fought in WW2, while the other managed to duck out of the National Guard before it sucked him into something uncomfortable. It may not be a coincidence, though.