Darrell Castle talks about war today with an emphasis on how artificial intelligence is changing everything we once thought about war and how wars are fought.

Transcription / Notes

THE CHANGING FACE OF WAR

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. I will be talking about war today with an emphasis on how artificial intelligence is changing everything we once thought about war and how wars are fought. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza, both funded by the taxpayers of the United States, are serving as crucibles for perfecting the new methodologies of modern warfare.

Yes, my beat is war today and that is very appropriate because this coming Monday is Memorial Day when we pause to remember those who died in the nation’s wars. If you have suffered through these Castle Reports with me for a few years you know that I talk about war a lot because war is one of the great tragedies of the human experience. It often comes from the dark recesses of one or maybe two human minds, but it affects millions.

We are currently in the early stages of an epic change in the way wars are fought. You have probably heard many times the statement that generals tend to fight the last war and that is happening today with one variable. Warfare is evolving and changing rapidly in real time while the wars are being fought. Nothing trains a soldier or an army for war like actual combat. I had a law professor who taught evidence and he used the example of a train robbery for the importance of his subject. You can practice train robbery and even rehearse the event, but until you are inside the train with a gun in your hand you don’t know what train robbery Is like.

The first epic change in the evolution of warfare was the discovery of metalwork which allowed the building of new weapons made of metal rather than wood. The second was the discovery of gunpowder which allowed for the building of guns and ended the armored knight era. It took thousands of years to get from the first to the third epic which was artillery and massed artillery fire which evolved over a couple of hundred years so that armies who had the most effective artillery usually won the battle and the war. The fourth epic was airpower and the vital necessity of an army gaining air superiority. The fifth epic was precision guided munitions so that fortified bunkers and layers of concrete and steel were no longer effective and it allowed a 2000 lb. projectile to be sent through a target’s window from miles away.

Americans learned a lot about war from World War ll and that knowledge and manufacturing base has led the world until now. The Germans had better tanks, but the Americans caught up and won the war. The Japanese had better airplanes and pilots, but the Americans killed their pilots, built better airplanes, and won the war. Coming out of the war the Americans had unlimited funds and the arms industry to lead the world, but fighting the last war has finally started to catch up again as it always seems to.

Washington has provided Russia, Ukraine, and Israel with the battleground and even the funds to make great leaps in the epic of war developed and hardened in the cauldron of combat. There are always reasons given for Washington’s wars. Normally, the first reason is that you must stay committed even if the struggle after Washington enters is proven to be pointless and unwinnable. The second reason usually given is what in Vietnam was called the domino effect. If you let your enemy prevail, he will use the victory as a springboard to attack other countries and they will fall like dominos. Neither of the stated reasons have been proven to be true although they have been tested many times.

Ukraine is a war of attrition because that is how Russia has chosen to fight it. That means that just as in World War ll when they had more men and could take more casualties than the Germans, they would ultimately succeed despite the Germans having better and more m...