I think we can all agree — the world is going to hell in a handbasket. It seems like there is a new conflict springing up every week. For the past few months, we’ve been hearing about the Islamic State group’s rampage across Iraq and Syria. 
The group, which now fancies itself a nation-state, is in control of a huge swath of territory stretching from the Syrian-Turkish border to the outskirts of Baghdad, or roughly Baton Rouge to Atlanta, inflicting untold horror on anyone that doesn’t submit to their extremist views, slaughtering religious minorities and executing two American journalists. 
The Islamic State group is a blight that requires elimination. The United States is right to expand its air war against the group, as well as continuing the fight against radical jihadism in general, even if it requires              putting soldiers back in the field.
On Monday, in an effort to avoid acting unilaterally, the U.S. got 24 nations to pledge their support to help defeat the group at a conference in Paris.
It was hoped that some of the surrounding Arab states would also commit to military action. Ten nations, including what’s left of Iraq, Turkey and a handful of Gulf States officially endorsed the measure. But none, save Iraq, committed to direct action. However, after the embarrassing retreat of Iraqi troops, the only legitimate force in the region comes from the Kurdish Peshmerga, which has been fighting tooth and nail against the Islamic State group in both Syria and Iraq.
The Kurds are an ethnic minority with no nation-state, but have representation in Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Their de facto capital in Iraq is the city of Erbil.
Ironically, Syria and Iran have also voiced their support despite neither country being invited to the conference — for obvious reasons in Syria’s case. It is likely Iran was left out because of its tensions with Saudi Arabia and its budding nuclear program. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cited his credentials fighting the group, among others, for the past few years. He’s right, if you call using chemical weapons on your own citizens to sustain a failed regime counter-insurgency expertise.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey suggested there may need to be American boots on the ground, assuming the air war doesn’t work. While it is unpopular to suggest American soldiers may need to return to Iraq, we need to realize the Kurds and Iraqis may not be able to do the job by themselves. 
Besides, conventional air power alone has never won a war. See Vietnam.
Thirteen years of constant conflict has been extraordinarily draining on the country. People my age haven’t known a year of peace since we were seven years old. This weariness of war can’t continue to distract us from reality. 
It’s the absence of Western boots on the ground that got us into this mess in the first place. We blew Iraq to hell and left it to the extremists before it was stable enough to stand alone. The failure to get a Status of Forces Agreement has come full circle. As unfortunate as it is, we may need to send soldiers back to finish the job.
This is the nature of the world we live in. The end of the Cold War didn’t usher in peace; it spawned more chaos. We must be prepared to decisively respond to current and emerging threats, whether we’re war-weary or not.
Ryan McGehee is a 21-year-old political science and history senior from Zachary, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @JRyanMcGehee.