[ericmay]

They're rookie numbers compared to peer-to-peer combat which was last seen in World War II and arguably today in Ukraine, but my point was that the United States and at least some western countries are very much willing to engage in that intense form of combat that the OP suggested that they weren't willing to engage in. Not just the Second Battle of Faluja, but also various engagements in Afghanistan to root out the Taliban.

To your point, I don't disagree that serious, hardcore combat with huge casualties wouldn't set well with the American public, but I would suggest that you're basing that hypothesis on how we reacted to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and as such it's not really comparable because a war with, let's say China, is going to elicit a different response altogether.

Even so, we spent how long in Afghanistan? How long in Iraq? We were kicking in doors still even with a population that thought "what's the point of this?" for a decade +. Imagine if a real war kicks off - I'm not so sure we would be hesitant to fight if there were serious issues at stake.

Thanks for your service too. I was also in a support role during OIF. Thankfully it was rather uneventful for me personally.