a precision bombing campaign that is so sudden and brutal that it results in the complete paralyzation of the enemy, even though casualties are minimized
sounds on a par with “elimination with extreme prejudice” --- a bureaucrat’s way of making a policy of murder sound less murderous than it is.
Dave doesn’t say whose casualties are much reduced—the words “so sudden and brutal” suggest that the intended reference is to the casualties of the murderer rather than to those of the murderees.
The USAF didn’t invent the ”Shock and Awe” doctrine --- only their “term of art” for it. In 1257 the city of Baghdad surrendered to the Mongols. “Those that surrendered quickly and those that fought on were alike slain” says the historian Runciman. “In forty days some eighty thousand citizens of Baghdad were slain”.
The shock and awe generated in the Arab world by this policy were truly impressive. After this and many other massacres the Mongols had a walk-over. Their casualties were minimal.