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Originally Posted by Charlatan
Technology is the biggest "ally" the US has... If US soldiers had to actually fight, one to one in a war (i.e. on an equal playing ground) they would be hard pressed to win.
It is only with this superior tech that the US has managed to throw its weight around as it has...
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uhh... no crap. did you think someone was saying that we're somehow better because we wrestled in high school? technology has always been a large part of a military forces lethality... that goes for iron axes, greek fire, catapults, trebuchets, stirrups, long bows as well as our modern-day weapons.
however, that isn't the total picture. we have outstanding leadership commanding seasoned troops who have the best training money can buy (made possible, in part, by technology). also, our industrial, economoic and agricultural base at home allows our military to project it's power with greater force, flexibility and sustainibility.
in a conventional war... we would roundly defeat china with minimal (relatively speaking) casualties. the gap is just too great. people must appreciate that the technological gap and the realization that manpower & technology intersect along a steep curve. the greater the technological advancement... the less significance manpower (in sheer numbers) projects onto the battlefield.
it's a curve. let's say that 10,000 years ago it took two thousand bone-wielding cavemen to fight against an opposing two thousand bone-wielding cavemen. nineteen hundred years ago it would take 1,000 roman foot soldiers to defeat two thousand bone-wielding cavemen. in medieval times advances in armor and weaponry would mean that it would take 500 medieval knights to defeat two thousand bone-wielding cavemen. today, it would take a single apache helicopter (manned by 2 soldiers) to take out two thousand bone-wielding cavemen. it's a simplistic explanation of the model, but i think it illustrates my point.
it appears, however, that our lead in technology is becoming less pronounced. the force relationship progresses on two planes: 1) their population #'s mean less as technology developes and 2) our technological supremacy shortens as time goes on.