Among the most welcome and effective disruptive reforms of the Trump presidency is a re-thinking and re-articulation of the use of military power.  Historically, military personnel served to perform a number of important, sometimes discreet, objectives, but their most important purpose was always to defeat opposing forces, and keep the peace.   It is in this latter role that they were often most vulnerable, as prior administrations left small contingencies of American military personnel literally as hostages for peace, promising implicitly or explicitly that any attack on U.S. forces would bring response, including, but not limited to, the whole might of the U.S. military.  These sometimes shockingly vulnerable contingencies served a more symbolic than operational purpose, since it would only be by response and reinforcement that their numbers could be an effective fighting force. The most recent example of troops being removed from Syria...(Read Full Post)