Germany could have marched across Britain.

With the 7th Fleet destroyed at Pearl, Japan could have owned the US West Coast.

...If they only knew...

Satellite technology put war on a higher plateau. It's hard for high-tech students to grasp the idea of unseen ground troops, naval locations, air power.

The thought of pulling into a rest area and using the old Rand McNally to get from point A to point B, instead of an iPhone is nonexistent. Even going to the local library to do some serious research, rather than Googling and accepting the generally accurate, but often erroneous data as being "close enough," has become a foreign idea.

We have evolved beyond the surface skirmish line, and taken war to the high altitudes, even to geosynch orbit.

...If they only knew...

Sidebar:
Seen Kirk Douglass' "Final Countdown," with Martin Sheen?