My own observation of war in general leads me to conclude that "show me a war worth fighting and young people will rise to meet the threat".

I've deployed 4 times to Afghanistan and I still can't see anything more than futile effort. The tragic irony of spreading "liberal democracy" is that the economic and physical bleeding that happened to the Russians is not much different than what will eventually happen to the U.S.
Terrorism, in the simplest terms, is a tactic designed to provoke a response. They intended to damage the country economically and they have done a fine job with our own help. Politicans and the Pentagon have weakened this country by pushing technology as the future of warfare. How many F-22s and F-35s have flown a single sortie in Afghanistan?
How many contractors who donate to these same politicans and employ the retired flag officers benefit by pushing unneeded technology? Mean while the same fools want to get rid of the A-10, which is the one tool needed to fight the type of wars that we will see in the future.

I find it hard to believe that a rational person truely believes that it is possible to build a State in Afghanistan. The only reason the State exists is to provide order. The Karzai government is unable to do that because of rampant corruption, plan and simple. On the other hand, the Taliban CAN provide order. It may not be the kind of 1st world order we prefer, but you will not have to pay a bribe to get someone to handle a crime. Afghanistan(if there is such a place) will tolerate our presence as long as the money continues to flow in copious amounts. When it stops they will turn on the US like they have done to every outsider since Alexander the Great.

The wars of the future will not be fought with F-22s and F-35s against the Chinese. Nor will there be conventional armies and tank formations waiting for Russians to come through the Folda Gap. The wars of the future will be centered around the legitamacy of the State and the State's ability to provide order. It will resemble low-level civil war at its worst, centered around adversaries that no longer hold allegiance to the State. The groundswell is beginning to manifest and intensify around cultural and immigrant asimilation. The current and future economic malaise will only accelarate the problem as the general public finally wakes up to fact that government is incapable of providing order. Syria, Egypt, and Libya are a preview of what will dominant warfare in the 21st century.

Until this country adopts a defensive grand strategy and addresses the failed state on our southern border, this country will continue to get it wrong. I seriously doubt that this will happen due to the profit motive of war and this type of warfare has proved to not provide the same type of margins to contractors.

With that said, Could you encourage someone to sign up to expose themselves to this kind of risk?