My attitude comes from being assigned to a 2nd Armored Div. company, mid 1980s, (”We Fight By Night”) where all the then-emerging night vision tech was tested in field conditions. Pretty cool until batteries failed unexpectedly or optics cracked, then it was back to ears open and one eye patch.
That made me appreciate the K.I.S.S. principle for life. The more we can rely on training and technique while minimizing over-dependence on technology the better.
1) So we are understanding eachother, are you a reformer? People who don’t believe in radar and AtA missiles on fighters and almost everything is volume with throwing out quality with quasi human wave tactics. All a proven failure. 2) Your experience was 40 years ago. You think things might have gotten better by then? There is no “over reliance on tech”. It is all just using modern tech. They are still trained to aim. The problem theses scopes are dealing with is tech itself, drones, so I am not sure if “shoot better” is an option. 3) On money, the enemy has 1000 soldiers. For the same cost, I have 500. 50 soldiers have problems with the kit, but the other 450 clobber the 1000 with much better accuracy partly from scopes. Oversimplification, but you get the idea. It is about chances of likelihood. Sometimes the military get it wrong but trying to blame everything on corruption and incompetence is unfair.