The big picture and difficult questions
Some passionate and legitimate views expressed here.
The unavoidable tension between fighting THE war now and A war later has never been effectively reconciled, in any country's history - ever.
The consideration that senior decision makers are being forced to wrestle with now, is that A war in the future, eventually becomes THE war now. When insufficient thought is given to A war in the future, then when it becomes THE war now, the military are left with issues such as; insufficient SH, old and creaking AT, an immature ISTAR doctrine etc, etc.
Recce_FAC is absolutely right to argue the case for THE war now, but his brothers in arms of the future will not thank him (or me, or us) if insufficient thought is given to A war in the future.
The only thing that helps me deal with the current sh1t state of affairs, is a passing knowledge of history.
Sun.