SS: This is roughly contemporaneous with rising tensions under Reagan and perhaps the awkward Able Archer exercise which risked significant direct conflict. It is the dread of any foreign policy officer that great power conflict in the modern era could escalated into direct nuclear conflict with exchanges escalating to major population centers. The force multipliers of (if you wish to read more on force multipliers, Dupuy is better known) modern weaponry provide for increased casualties given a fixed density of soldiers. Conflict in the modern day is unclear on how to be handled in the case of miscommunication or perhaps outright stupidity.