Since the end of WWII, America has pursued a military policy favoring technology over human forces. We'll pay billions to build weapons that replace massed formations of troops. A single nuke could've wiped out a invasion fleet like we used in Normandy, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Technology had made massed formations vulnerable and therefore obsolete.

The Soviet Army in WWII used massed formations with heavy artillery and armor support. Some of these formations used against the Nazis stretched for dozens of miles and numbered several hundred thousand troops. I've read that over a million Soviet Army personnel were involved in the Battle of Berlin alone. We knew we couldn't match their sheer numbers but we also knew we didn't have to - by the time the Soviets became a serious threat, we had nukes.

For over 50 years, we've developed more capable weapons systems that reduced the risk to our aircraft crews and ground forces. We developed standoff weapons where the attacking plane could hit targets without having to overfly them. We developed precision guided munitions that could enable a single plane dropping a couple bombs to have the same effectiveness as a whole squadron dropping scores of dumb bombs. We developed long range cruise missiles that could hit targets hundreds of miles away without risking any of our personnel. We developed long range rocket systems like MLRS that can clear out large numbers of enemy ground forces over 20 miles in front of our forces.

All of these weapons are expensive. Some, like the cruise missiles, cost over a million dollars a shot. However, we willingly trade treasure over blood. A dumb bomb costs a few hundred dollars while a smart bomb costs over $20,000. It's worth it to increase the chances of hitting the target, reduce the risk to our aircrews, and reduce the chances of killing innocent civilians.

Let those who want to die in the name of their cause do so. We'll gladly help them meet their objective. On the other hand, we're living by those wise words attributed to a bulldog general named Patton who said, "You don't win wars by dying for your country. You win wars by making the other poor dumb bastard die for HIS country."