The Last Starfighter

Dateline: above the garage, Portsmouth RI, 20 April

About 25 years ago on a family vacation in Canada, I got the privilege of meeting a living legend on my mother's side of the family: one of Canada biggest flying aces of World War II (my mom's cousin). I was very psyched to meet the guy, but came away from the interaction somewhat disappointed. He was shorter than me (I was only 16 at the time), friendly as a puppy dog, and all in all, he just did not fit my image of what a flying ace would act like. Despite looking like he couldn't scare a mouse, he was -- apparently in his age -- a veritable killing machine in a plane.

Until last Friday, my Mom's cousin was the most celebrated wartime pilot I had ever met in person. Unbeknownst to me, last Friday, as I was giving my brief at the Joint Staff (Strategic Plans and Policy) or J-5 off-site, I was actually in the presence of one of the most famous wartime pilots in the world today -- a one-star Air Force general by the name of General Gary North (the guy who was instrumental in getting me the invitation to speak; he had heard me before). North's claim to fame? He is the last US military pilot to actually shoot down an enemy plane in combat. When did he do this? Desert Storm--or over a dozen years ago.

It's been well over a decade since the U.S. military has faced any enemy willing to fly an aircraft in combat against our own. That's how suicidal such head-to-head competition has become, or why the only real enemies we face today will fight us exclusively in an asymmetrical fashion.

That, my friends, is what happens to the world's military Leviathan: it is forced to slowly move in the direction of System Administration as a result of no longer being able to find any enemies worth fighting in traditional combat.

If done well, this is not only a good thing, it is a great thing. Because if done well, we're talking about the end of war as this planet has known it for centuries on end.