Not sure where Syria came in. The original comment expressed a desire to get back to a more civilized age where “American soldiers [were not] dying in other peo

Not sure where Syria came in. The original comment expressed a desire to get back to a more civilized age where “American soldiers [were not] dying in other people's wars.” My point is not the morality or efficacy of that adventurism. My assertion is that time never really existed. The best probable outcome for the current go round in Afghanistan & Iraq was something like Korea. Armistice or not we’ve had 30-50,000 soldiers stationed in an active war zone for 60 years. Earlier the US military fought and controlled the Philippines for 50 years. Before that it was China and central America. The 5 declared wars, with a tidy declaration and cessation, are the exception not the rule. The US public may have an aversion to adventurism, but the US state certainly does not. Edit: the first found reasonably complete list of these “small wars” with US combat deaths https://www.militaryfactory.com/american_war_deaths.asp https://www.militaryfactory.com/american_war_deaths.asp I dont have a citation for how it compares to other major nations, but Im skeptical thats its substantially “smaller”.