Perhaps I paid more attention to history than you have? Many attributed the Mongols' success to their cavalry and their archery skills. The Gatling gun compelled armies to redraw their tactics, offensive and defensive, which inevitably affects their war strategies. How about aviation with just airships for reconnaissance, let alone attacks from the third dimension? Knowing how enemy forces arrayed is not the same thing as being able to attack those arrays. But show me a single instance where either capability was outright rejected because they could not contribute to the war effort. A newly promoted general or admiral or marshal or warlord or whatever the title does not and never have guarantee new thinking that will result in new tactics and strategies. But a new weapon will
ALWAYS present opportunities for creative minds regardless of rank to come up with new tactics that will inevitably affect the overall war strategy. Did you once mentioned that you were in the Army? Which one? If you were, I find this shortsighted argument from you curious.
YOU set the tone by citing a figure...
So the burden is upon
YOU to provide a credible source for that claim. Where from that 5,000 casualty figure? How 'short' is short? If you expect the readers to read 'between the lines', meaning infer your argument, then do not have such concrete figures and cite such specific policies.
Did 'they', meaning the pundits, not predicted Vietnam War type of casualties for Desert Storm?
Here is an insightful bit from a mid-grade US Army officer, Paul Yingling...
Officership Discussion with LTC Paul Yingling | Center for a New American Security
The Vietnam War experience continues to serve, not as a deterrent or even a persuasive argument against US military 'adventure', but that
IF the US is going to war, for reasons outside this discussion for now, it must go to war with overwhelming capabilities and forces, under clear political objectives. It was the lack of a clear political objective in Viet Nam that led to the prolonged war and that 50,000+ US casualty figures. If the distaste for higher than 5,000 casualty is real, then Desert Storm would have never happened simply because of the pundits' dire prediction. Heck...Am willing to bet that the PLA's leadership quickly and quietly withdrew their own dire predictions for Iraq.
LOL...quit blaming on the politics! You know dam well the Vietnam War was not going well for as the US Generals would like to foresee it. Eight years and with all modern war tech and not a single inch of North Vietnam land was taken, much less disturbance of the Viet Congs continuing to conduct operations underground.
Here is your argument for all to see...
The crux of your argument here is that governments have a military just to keep arms manufacturers busy. Throwing in NATO and US is just a cheap way of slandering the two. Not to add any sense to the discussion. NORINCO is a state owned industry. Explain to the readers as to why is China an exception to your slander. Is it because China's economy will never experience inflation? That would be a good laugh.