Story highlights Two congressmen, both veterans, say it's unacceptable for President Trump to speak intemperately about North Korea

The consequences of a battle would be catastrophic and a smarter approach is needed, they say

Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, represents Arizona's 7th Congressional District. He is a Marine Corps combat veteran and serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat, represents California's 33rd Congressional District and is a member of the House Foreign Affairs and House Judiciary Committees. He is also a veteran and a Colonel in the Air Force Reserves. The opinions expressed in this commentary are their own.

(CNN) "War is hell."

Rep. Ted Lieu

Rep. Ruben Gallego

That's what Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman famously said in the wake of the Civil War and it's as true today as it was then. Unfortunately, as veterans, we have little confidence that President Trump has taken Sherman's admonition to heart and this lack of understanding about the true nature of combat is alarming, especially in light of North Korea's latest ballistic missile test.

Trump's fiery words and ham-handed attempts at diplomacy have significantly increased the probability of a bloody war on the Korean Peninsula while doing little to slow the progress of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's nuclear program. Simply put, the President owes it to our allies in the region and our troops on the ground to adopt a smarter approach.

In recent months, President Trump has responded to North Korean missile tests with a barrage of increasingly reckless and incendiary statements, claiming that the regime's leaders "only understand one thing!" and threatening that, "They won't be around much longer!" Moreover, his hardline speech in Seoul last month and the childish insults he aimed at Kim Jong-un on Twitter in recent weeks have only served to raise tensions.

Alarmed by the President's comments and the prospect of imminent war with North Korea, we asked the Department of Defense in October for an estimate of the human and military costs of such a conflict. The response was chilling.

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