“Where do we go to now, Sombra?”

“Nowhere, Fierro. We will stay put.”

“But is it not over, Sombra?”

“No, it never is. Americans invaded Mexico, Fierro.”

“Fulfilling Ángeles's worst nightmare, Sombra?”

“Precisely, Fierro, and that invasion signaled the United States’ preparation for entrance into World War I; it signaled the transition from cavalry to mechanized forces. Even airplanes were used in Mexico, to no avail, but they were used.”

“The end of honor, Sombra?”

“Not at all, Fierro. We will gauge the supremacy of military academies and professional soldiers over spontaneous leadership.”

“Where are the people, Sombra?”

“We will see how the US military establishment organized itself to generate first- class leaders despite responding to civilian command, Fierro.”

“Still, Sombra, where are the people?”

“All right, there were people like General Patton.”

“Why focus on him?”

“Because in many ways he was one of us, Fierro.”

“Tell me more about Patton, Sombra.”

“Perhaps I should start with his mentor, General Pershing, Fierro. If not with Jefferson and Hamilton.”

“Do that, Sombra.”

“In a nutshell, Jefferson, the American Founding Father, would have had a much reduced army, Fierro, if any army at all. In fact, the US army was reduced to about one thousand men after independence.”

“Near nothing for a country that size, Sombra.”

“Precisely, Fierro. Though it was a smaller country then, Jefferson believed that patriotic ardor could be counted on repeatedly to build an army from scratch if it were necessary. But there were people like Alexander Hamilton who believed that though patriotic ardor was important, it was General Washington's strategic genius and the alliance with the French that did more to secure independence.”