The Forever Wars and the U.S. Military

Event Date: 27th March 2025
Location: Internet 16:00 GMT

Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. military has been fighting incessantly in conflicts around the globe, often with inconclusive results. The legacies of these conflicts have serious implications for how the United States will wage war in the future. Yet there is a stunning lack of introspection about these conflicts. Never in modern U.S. history has the military been at war for so long, and never in U.S. history have such long wars demanded so much of so few. But the United States cannot simply hit the reset button.

Join Perry World House for a discussion on how this inheritance from nearly two decades of war has influenced civil-military relations, how the military goes to war, how the military wages war, who leads the military and who serves in it, how the military thinks about war, and above all, the enduring impact of these wars on those who waged them. If the U.S. military seeks to win in the future, it must acknowledge and reconcile with the inheritance of its long and inconclusive wars.

At this event, PWH Distinguished Visiting Fellow Dr. Mara Karlin will discuss her book, The Inheritance: America’s Military After Two Decades of War. 

Perry World House will give out free copies of the book to the first 25 attendees.