Three Recent American Wars

and their implications for the future

The United States has fought  three foreign wars since 1965 with armies raised in very different ways.

In Vietnam, 1965-1974, American casualties, killed and wounded, were 211,263.

In Afghanistan/Iraq, 2003-2021, American casualties, killed and wounded, were 21,966.

In Ukraine, 2022-?, Russian and Ukrainian  casualties, killed and wounded, casualties, >500,000;  American casualties, killed and wounded, have been all but nil.

America’s war in Vietnam War was fought mainly by draftees. Its wars in  Afghanistan/Iraq was fought by volunteer soldiers.  America’s war in Ukraine has been fought entirely by  proxy.

Opinions differ about the fundamental causes of the Russo-Ukraine War. Some say it was  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Others maintain it was the attempted expansion of the NATO alliance to Russian borders.

Decisions about strategic considerations, made by American political leaders, were involved in escalating or initiating all three wars. The mainstream US press supported all three of them, at least in their beginnings. America is generally thought to have lost the first two and is in danger of losing the third. Favorable public opinion in non-aligned nations of America’s foreign policy may have diminished with each.

American public opinion may also have shifted over the last sixty years with respect to how the US raises its armies in whatever future wars it chooses to fight. Important questions, not often asked, include these:

How has the disposition changed of America’s decision makers to go to war in the future?

In relation to which old and new technologies?

What might be America’s stance in the event, now thought to be likely, of a second Cold War?  

The question of conscription vs. an  all-volunteer army lies at the heart of each.