At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War

Some quotes from the book I've just finished.

"The first lesson learned in the skies over Vietnam, one that must never be forgotten, is that the primary mission of an air force is to fly and fight in the sky. If it cannot do that, if it cannot gain control of the skies over the battlefield and over the enemy's infrastructure, then it has failed, for it will never be able to move on to the destruction of those enemy assets."
-- pg. 197, At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War
by Thomas C. Reed

I think we may be on the road to forgetting this lesson. People don't believe there are any credible air threats in the world. They are mistaken. But even so, we can be our own greatest threat to our own Air Force. This is mainly through lack of meaningful support. I'm not talking about that stuff the politicians play at either.

"...oil is not a commodity - it is a narcotic. Americans are neither willing to make rational choices nor to accept energy-conservation tax policies if any of those strictures interfere with their daily low-cost energy fix."
-- pg. 351, At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War
by Thomas C. Reed

This seems very true also. Americans are very good at not looking at the bigger picture. All those "anti-war for oil" people driving around in their SUVs are missing the bigger picture. Our society, as currently supported (i.e., our infrastructure), requires oil to work. Try commuting those 40 miles every day to work without an automobile. Fuel cells and hybrid are just starting to make in-roads in the market. Even so, we still consume more energy per-capita every year, year after year. The bigger picture must be addressed. Americans must start thinking about the good of the nation, and the good of the future generations to come. A tall order it appears for those who seem obsessed about our own selves.

Lessons from a Half Century Now Gone

First of all, ..., preeminence is never a permanent condition. ... the United States does have major enemies: nations and cultures that do not wish us well, that would destroy us in a minute if they could. ... our attention to the nation's security must be unrelenting. ...

Second, ..., the nation's defense must be based on technology, on an excellence that leaves all others behind. Any attempts to ignore or stifle technology will in time be paid for with the lives of innocent young American troops. On a grander scale, I believe our society will be humbled and our freedoms curtailed if we allow the technical initiative to pass to others, such as China. This pursuit of technical supremacy sounds simple enough, but in practice the choices are hard. ...

Third, the state must always remain the servant of the people, not the other way around.
...

And finally, we continue to live at the abyss.
-- pg. 356-357, At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War
by Thomas C. Reed

America is already falling behind. Unless we wake up and energize ourselves to perform, to take action, we will fall further behind. Better brush up on your Chinese...