Donald Trump and his military brass understand that victory is measured in outcomes and not sideline statistics.

Until recently, it was accepted wisdom that the U.S. and the Allies won World War II. Some recent kooks and cranks want to say that Churchill was the bad guy and Hitler only wanted to be loved. Murder Jews? Nah, just ran out of food. But let’s go back to the accepted narrative that the Allies defeated both Germany and Japan, as the losing countries signed unconditional surrender documents (with a slight twist for Japan where they insisted on keeping the emperor). Germany’s goal of controlling Europe went up in smoke as did Japan’s dream of taking over all of the Far East down to Australia. What were the costs for the U.S. of a clear-cut victory?

- Over 400,000 soldiers dead

- Over 65,000 airplanes lost

- 10,000 tanks and armored vehicles lost

- Over 350 ships sunk, including 2 battleships, 11 carriers, 10 cruisers, and 70 destroyers

The losses described above are enormous. Sure, the U.S. fielded millions of soldiers and produced nearly 50,000 Sherman tanks. So the losses were covered. But why didn’t the press of the day point to the daily funerals or lost equipment and throw up its collective hands and demand an end to war? Because in the day, even the media understood that a) victory was imperative in preventing fascism taking over the world and b) that victory doesn’t come cheap but must come.

The U.S. has suffered both dead and wounded in the Epic Fury campaign. U.S. bases have been attacked in the region to differing degrees of damage. Thank God no planes have been downed or ships damaged, which in the annals of warfare is a miracle. The U.S. forces are showing incredible professionalism across all branches in keeping a high tempo of attacks with a wide range of weapons platforms. The U.S. Army just scored its longest artillery hits ever. The Navy is sending off planes........

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