How Would Americans React to a Real War?

Trey Smith

Since the 1950s and long before, it seems that the United States is involved in a war somewhere. For a nation whose leaders talk incessantly about peace, we seem to have the damnedest time trying to keep it. But our most recent wars -- those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya -- don't resemble the wars of the past in one significant way: the number of dead and injured US combat forces is negligible in terms of the overall death/injury toll.

In World War I, in two years of fighting, 116,000 US soldiers died and 205,600 were injured (all figures in this section come from Wikipedia). In World War II, in four years of fighting, 416,800 US troops were killed and 683,00 were injured -- more than 1,000,000 all told. In the Korean War, in 3 years of fighting, we lost 36,900 US soldiers and 92,100 were wounded. In the Vietnam War, in approximately five years of active combat, the US death toll was 58,200 and 303,600 were wounded.

Because the numbers were so high for deaths and the wounded, every state, region and most communities were impacted. It seems that most people were related to or knew someone who had lost a son, father, brother, uncle or cousin (as well as a few daughters, mothers, sisters and aunts). The specter of war was brought home in a most profound way.

Since the 1990s, however, America has been engaging in a new kind of war -- the kind in which few Americans are harmed. During our 10 year military operations in Afghanistan, only 1,657 US soldiers have been killed and approximately 10,000 wounded. The numbers are a bit higher for our 8 years in Iraq with a death toll of 4,487 soldiers with 32,226 wounded. In Libya, we didn't suffer ANY deaths or injuries at all.

I do not mean to minimize the deaths of US troops in Afghanistan or Iraq. Whether a military force suffers one death or one million, it is just as heart wrenching for the family, friends and colleagues involved. The point here is that, with so few killed or wounded, much of the populace of the United States is not personally touched and this makes it that much easier to support a war in a far off land. It is because most Americans don't have to deal with the aftermath of today's US military incursions that it becomes a sort out of sight, out of mind endeavor.

This has got me to thinking how most Americans these days would deal with a REAL war. By a REAL war, I mean one in which the other side had sufficient manpower and firepower to go toe-to-toe with the US for an extended period of time. The wars of the past two decades have been against forces that are in no way on par with US power and so it is their side ONLY which suffers a staggering number deaths and injuries.

Would the majority of Americans be so gung-ho if hundreds or thousands of body bags came back to the states each week? Would the majority of Americans sit quietly as their relatives, friends, colleagues and community members never returned or returned in sad shape?

My guess is that the answer is no. In a manner of speaking, the American people have grown soft. We get all out of kilter when we learn that 4 or 5 American servicemen/women were killed during a given MONTH. How would we handle it if that was an hourly statistic?