>>BTW, I loved all of my time in Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, France...

Agreed! FWIW, I was privileged to watch the total dismantling of borders around the crucial German/French line in the first decade of this century. It got to the point when I didn't even need to carry a passport, even when crossing into Switzerland (where there still ought to be a border crossing since it's not in the EU). Yet within living memory (just) there was tension, hatred and millions of lives thrown away to move lines on a map.

If only politicians and generals could distinguish between things that really matter and their own vanity, they'd know that lasting legacy comes from building bridges, not bombing them. If you consider Eisenhower, he may have done a great job in the theater of war- but his lasting legacy ought to be the freeways that transformed the US and contributed hugely to its superpower status since WWII.