Last night I was suffering from my reoccurring insomnia which gave me the opportunity to watch several installments of HBO's Band of Brothers. If you are not familiar with this series, the show highlights the story of the airborne infantry "Easy Company" from boot camp to the capture of Hitler's summer house, called "Eagles Nest." This series, shot in the same style as "Saving Private Ryan", has Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg attached as executive producers. The stories about Easy Company are presented in such a moving and often graphic way it can almost make the viewer break down. The series is truly moving but, it also got me thinking.

The attitude of the United States is that our military is superior to anyone any other country in the world, and to be frank, it is. While other armed forces that have nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, our modern fighting force, the tanks, fighter jets, submarines, et al, are far superior to any other existing army.

The attitude of veterans of WWII I have spoken to in the past have always been humble. They do not want to be called heroes, but they all served with heroes. None will admit to playing an important role in the war, yet some were the keys to highly sensitive and hugely important operations. The attitude of the military since these men went to war has changed, or so it seems.

The US, fresh off of the victory in WWII ended up in a stalemate with the Korean War. America went to Vietnam to help the French and end up getting our ass handed to us on a platter by an inferior army. Times were changing, and the military was not. The enemy was no longer the huge war machine that was Nazi Germany, rather the enemy was now blending into the background and the army could not adapt.

The other conflicts to follow were, essentially, the United States overpowering the opponent. Again, there was no large military force we were facing but things worked out in our favor. Grenada, Panama and, the First Iraq conflict saw the weight of the United States overpower the resistance and this is what really worries me.

Regardless of if you think the war is justified or not, the current war has shown two things to the world. First, the day of the glory seeking military is here. I am not referring to the individuals fighting the battle, rather the military exploiting the individuals (aka - Jessica Lynch). Yes, in WWII the military had individuals touring the country promoting the cause and pitching war bonds, but what the military has done with Jessica Lynch is different from my perspective. They did not use the Jessica Lynch story to help their cause; rather they tried to show this as an accomplishment of the war.

The second thing the military has shown the world is that we cannot yet fight a guerilla war. This, I am guessing, is due in part to the size of the fighting force, in part due to military strategy, and in part to the fact that we do not want to "stoop" to their level. If we do not fight and plan like a guerilla our troops will continue to be killed one by one.

Hubris, or pride, has been the downfall of many great individuals. I fear that the mentality of the military machine if still fighting wars as if we are facing enemies like the Nazis when in reality we are fighting a smaller, yet organized, group of individuals which will continue to pick away at us. If the US does not look past it's pride - if it does not adapt from the ways of the past, the US military will continue to loose it's power and influence. Simply throwing brute force at a problem will not insure victory, just ask Goliath.