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JB Jay Bargeron On Irregular Warfare Podcast

“Deterring armed conflict is our highest duty. An armed conflict, even a short one, would be catastrophic. In terms of loss of money and resources, time, and lives, we're likely to be talking about the loss of two digits of ships, three digits of aircraft, four digits of humans, and the losses to the world's economy would likely be measured in trillions of dollars.”

Irregular Warfare Podcast · Geopolitics & World Affairs · November 2026

“Deterring armed conflict is our highest duty. An armed conflict, even a short one, would be catastrophic. In terms of loss of money and resources, time, and lives, we're likely to be talking about the loss of two digits of ships, three digits of aircraft, four digits of humans, and the losses to the world's economy would likely be measured in trillions of dollars.” — Jay Bargeron, Irregular Warfare Podcast

Context

In the episode's opening, the Marine Corps general gives a concrete estimate of what even a short war with a peer adversary would cost, and says that is why deterrence comes first.

Transcript

Irregular Warfare Podcast Around 00:46 into the episode
Kyle Atwell

…leaders and scholars, and building relationships within the irregular warfare community. Apply by November 15th at www.irregularwarfare.org/slash fellowship. Again, that is www.irregularwarfare.org/slash fellowship. Without further ado, here is today's episode of the Irregular Warfare Podcast.

Jay Bargeron

Deterring armed conflict is our highest duty. I mean, an armed conflict, even a short one, would be catastrophic, right? In terms of loss of money and resources, time, and lives, we're likely to be talking about the loss of two digits of ships, three digits of aircraft, four digits of humans, and the losses to the world's economy would likely be measured in trillions of dollars. And we're talking about impacts that would be felt for at least the next generation

Speaker 3

is that it's actually not the greatest risk that the network isn't there and that the technology isn't available. It's that the operator doesn't know that that capability is being manipulated by the adversary. And the smarter that the operator is with that capability and what it should be doing in…

Kyle Atwell

Welcome to episode 168 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast. I'm your host, Kyle Atwell. Today, we break down what America will need its Marines to do in 2040. With an eye toward rapid changes in both technology and the global security environment, we examine how Marines can help an ally facing…

Jay Bargeron

Thanks, Kyle. Appreciate being on, and I appreciate the work you guys do.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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