America Should Deploy Troops To Ukraine
But not for combat!
This is a half-baked idea, I must admit. I am open to being wrong about this, which, anybody who knows me, is a very rare instance of modesty.
All my fellow hawks who are talking about helping Ukraine immediately add the caveat that of course we should not deploy American troops to Ukraine.
Yes, the argument against not having a direct war between the United States and Russia is quite strong. Escalation. Nukes. Etc. Etc. But combat is not the everything that the U.S. military knows how to do. We also regularly provide logistics and advise allies and partners. So why not Ukraine?
Let’s do pros and con.
Here are the four pros:
Having Americans advise the Ukrainians will enhance Ukraine’s capabilities. Our logistical support could also lift a huge burden off of their shoulder. (As long as we don’t cut and run like we did in Afghanistan, which was the key reason for the Afghan army’s collapse.)
And having a non-combatant American anywhere will be taxing on the Russian military. As long as no American is shooting at a Russian, it’s a safe bet that the Russians are going to be quite conservative with the use of force when there is a risk of killing an American member of the military. That alone might be the most valuable outcome.