Historically this hasn't been a problem, since the hypothetical war NATO was designed to fight was with the Soviet Union, and that war would happen when the Soviet Union actually invaded alliance members.

The situation today is quite different. The present and future threat is an aggressive China. For the continental alliance members to be useful in that fight they would need to invest heavily in power projection. And that simply isn't going to happen until China has already gone rogue, and will come too late to make any difference (see the war in Ukraine for reference).

Instead the U.S. will have to lean on allies in the Western Pacific. A re-armed Japan is going to be key, as well as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines and Australia. Defensive alliances with Vietnam and Indonesia also need to be established. China needs to be put in a position where a stunt like that of Russia in Ukraine would be absolutely suicidal to Chinese society, economy and instustry.

That's the thing about taking shortcuts. It actually works a lot of the time. But sometimes it doesn't work, and that's the people that are going to comment the most on these types of threads.

Not saying he shouldn't tear it down, especially since it hasn't fully set yet. But he would probably have been fine either way, especially since it's a backsplash, and doesn't get wet like a shower for example.

I don't drill metal very often, but when I do I usually use water. Keeps the temperature down and is much easier to clean up.