Not only that, but I think the military's been dumping a lot of funding on overbloated, fancy, new, and "high tech" equipment for the last couple of decades, especially in the Navy and Air Force.

Unsurprisingly, this does not end up being especially cost effective compared to what a bunch of persistent 3rd worlder pirates are going to throw into the mix.

What boggles my mind is why we haven't bothered to at least maintain a tiny little combat group with the flexibility and cost effectiveness to properly deal with enemy combatants using more (or less?) conventional means.