1. We CANNOT do the fighting for someone else, whether they are French, or South Koreans, or Israeli's or Vietnamese without suffering major complications down the road.
2.An army in a war zone MUST ACT like an army! This means sandbags, field rations, loaded weapons and constant vigilance!
I was royally flamed on this board when I dared to suggest air-conditioned "sleep tents" would lower the combat readiness of the troops as well as create a magnificent target of opportunity for any available terrorist who passed by.
Six months ago some Washington backwater knuckleheads mustered a battalion of Seabees in an OPEN COMPOUND in BROAD DAYLIGHT and SURPRISE!- six of them were killed when a mortar round came flying over the barbed wire. If the attack had occurred a few minutes later there was a real possibility the first Admiral since WWII would have been killed or injured.
Yes, this is war and you must behave in a warlike manner.
It will be uncomfortable, it will be stressful and it will upend all preconceived notions about what is necessary and proper.
There is no room for warm and fuzzy mess tents that are not protected from attack Best regards,
I think you are right on with this analysis.