It's astounding how unprepared the US was to defend its forces. Just delusional at the highest levels, no one willing to give unpleasant truths, now mainlining copium.

It's really the biggest defeat the US has experienced since the last time in Iraq, when the Iranians delivered EFP (explosively formed penetrator) technology to the insurgents. We knew national adversaries had this tech, but just assumed it wouldn't reach insurgents?

Each time the US has suffered strategic surprise because of not wanting to acknowledge the truth because it is politically inconvenient.