War is… Not what it used to be.

Sometimes I hear my grandfather talk about how he loves to watch old war movies. He talks about them like there is so much glory in war. Good old american heroes play the role of the general leading the troops to victory. I think about how in our American history class, when we studied the revolutionary war and how that war was fought. Soldiers marched to the battle in colorful uniforms. They squared off in the fields while facing their enemy face to face. That is not how I see wars today. I live in a time where there is no colorful uniforms, there is no march, there is no general leading the troops to glory. Instead, there is satellite intelligence, drone strikes, navy seal special forces units, long range ballistic missiles that get launched by computer key strokes, and fighter jets that wiz past twice the speed of sound. Sure, there are troops on the ground but we just don’t see it the same way as we see the troops on the ground in our history books. The enemy we are fighting today is a completely different enemy too. The enemy used to wear a uniform of a different color. Now, the enemy is spread out over several countries. They walk amongst us in our own country. Many of them are not even soldiers of any army or aligned with any country. Instead of fighting a war over our ability to be sovereign, we are fighting a constant battle over hatred. Our country's two greatest enemies are not even other countries, but named groups, Al Qaeda and ISIS. For decades, wars were fought within the confines of the Geneva Convention where there were rules to protect the innocent. But now, our current enemy is blowing up people running the boston marathon, hijacking airplanes and flying them into buildings, and capturing and beheading members of the press. Were fighting a war where our enemies do not recognize the same ethical boundaries as we do. These technological advancements have altered our perception of war and created this new image of war that we are left with today. War is no longer something you can sit and watch in a movie. It’s happening all over us, everyday. The battle field is constantly changing….