Generals and admirals for centuries have been notorious for planning to fight the last war. American military men are no different; for 45 years they have prepared for a Soviet version of the blitzkrieg. Panama, Grenada, Libya, even Korea and Viet Nam were all essentially sideshows. The Big One, if it ever came, would begin with the Warsaw Pact's tank and armored columns charging across the Fulda Gap into West Germany, starting a conflict that could escalate to a nuclear Armageddon. The effort to deter or defeat a Soviet invasion of Western Europe shaped almost everything about the U.S. military establishment:...
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