Missing the Paradigm Shift

Major Mike

Something subtle happened after 11/11/18. There was a quiet shift in warfighting strategies and battlefield tactics. This shift, prodded by the meatgrinding that was the hallmark of WWI, and had begun with the use of the tank in compromising the Hindenberg line at Cambrai in November of 1917, would be understood by few. It would, however be grasped by enough military planners and tacticians that it would set the stage for all of the fighting that occurred in WWII.

Naval warfare was quietly, yet completely revolutionized with the advent of the aircraft carrier and its successful operational integration in the 1920s by the US Navy. Modern maneuver warfare blossomed out of Germany, England and the US, as faster, more maneuverable, and more heavily armed tanks could be built and refined. The lessons of the failure in Gallipoli were refined and honed by the US Marine Corps as amphibious warfare became a viable operational scheme.

Still, the start, conduct, and the conclusion of WWII would be understood by few. How could Germany run all over Europe? How could we be attacked at Pearl Harbor? Those who asked these questions, missed the paradigm shift that occurred in the twenty years that had elapsed since the end of the Great War.

Many also missed the paradigm shift that occurred once the Bomb had been dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki…the shift into the Cold War, Mutually Assured Destruction, and limited war.

Clinton missed the shift post-Desert Storm...he showed little appreciation for the fact that we swept another army off the field in a matter of days. The Dems are still missing this shift. They do not understand the mettle of our forces, and still believe this is the same force of the Carter Malaise. The Press is the same...they feel our forces will return to dope smoking and fragging once they "realize" that they will inevitably lose this war. What they still miss is that our forces are no longer get a sense of worth from what they read in the press, but what they are able to see for themselves on the battlefield. There is no longer a need for "good press," they have little regard for what the media prints or airs anyway.

Each paradigm shift missed, each equally real in the end.

Our press is stuck in the last paradigm. The paradigm of the Clinton Administration…the pre-9/11 paradigm. The paradigm of hollow action, unequal and ineffective response, terror as a law enforcement problem, the paradigm of turning a blind eye to the threat in favor of a nice warm feeling at home.

After 9/11 the counter-terrorism paradigm changed forever. Passive inaction had to be replaced with aggressive attack. Deflecting light blows had to be substituted with preventing additional serious attacks. And ineffective, high visibility responses (cruise missile salvos) had to be replaced with troops in contact with the enemy…wherever we found him.
What the press continually misses with their shallow “war” coverage and their simple analyses is that this IS going to be a long drawn out affair. We may be able to change that through aggressive action, or that time may be shortened by factors outside of our control…possibly Muslim mothers refusing to sacrifice their homicidal sons for a few despotic Islamofascists who don’t have the courage to strap on a bomb for Allah as they encourage others to do so. No matter.

This war must now be won by destroying the terrorists before they make more IEDs, bomb vests, or homicidal runs on mosques after prayers. This means hunting them down in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines, and wherever the move to. They have the mobility to move from one country to another rapidly. We need to respond. Our lame press and our weaker Dems, need to understand that this is a fact, and beyond our control at the moment, and that the only way to gain control is to gain the initiative.

Initiative is gained through surprise, superior intelligence, aggressive surveillance, and attack. And because of the nature of the world today…these activities necessarily HAVE to be taking place all over the globe simultaneously…not one country at a time. A single front in this war will only give the enemy room to out maneuver us, and room for further devastating attacks.

Regardless of how the press sees it, or how the unhinged left is using the war for its purposes…the paradigm has changed, and no amount of slanted reporting or political wrangling can change that. Our best protection lies in our ability to project our defense across the globe, rapidly and effectively.

We are in a new age, and the 60’s style reporting and rhetoric can’t change that, but it will make us more vulnerable to attack. Leave the strategy and tactical application of that strategy where it belongs…with selfless individuals, who truly care about the well-being of this nation. Don't leave it with the counter-culture types who would defend us with slogans, signs, marches, and biased reporting…we’ve been there before. Didn’t work.