15 June post at the Westhawk Blog - America’s Morale and the “In Between” Wars.

Mr. Robert Kaplan, author of the brilliant Imperial Grunts among other books and articles, has a new article out in The American Interest. Entitled On Forgetting the Obvious, (h/t RCP) Mr. Kaplan makes three assertions:

1) Much of the “Establishment” class in America, along with the urban and suburban populations in the United States that this class wishes to influence, lacks the morale and will to face the national security challenges of the future.
2) With a relatively small and professional military, the vast majority of American society, especially its most “elite” civil institutions, have no contact with military culture (nor is there much of any contact the other way). A society cannot sustain a long duration armed struggle in this manner.
3) American society can perform well at only two kinds of wars, either very large ones that mobilize all of society, or small ones that employ largely covert professionals out of society’s sight. The U.S. will flounder at “in between” wars like Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq which are large enough to be costly and visible but not large enough to require the full mobilization of society...