Your first paragraph provides no evidence to support your assertions. It also assumes that there is going to be a "next war".
Generals and Admirals have a vested personal interest in fear mongering. The entire cold war was just a scam perpetrated on the American and Russian public by their respective militaries and the industries supporting them. The second gulf war was a complete fraud predicated upon nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, so guys like Cheney could make profits off the deaths of American soldiers, and ******* could keep driving pickup trucks and SUVs.
Perpetual war, perpetual fear, keeps a populace enslaved.
When you go into someone else's country, steal their natural resources, overthrow their democratically elected leaders, disrespect their culture and try to ram American ideology down their throats, you get Nine Eleven, and well deserved.
The American military behaves like a bully, a thug. It has no business overseas, and is beholden to PROFITS, not the public interest, corporations, not citizens.
George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower said it well: the military poses it's greatest risk to the citizens and the economy, not imagined enemies. Don't **** with people overseas in the first place, and they will have little or no reason to **** with you.