Army ticket punching, O yeah, we had plenty of that. It's how we wound up with General Colin Powell, Weasley Clark and a whole lot of other wastes of time in top positions, from which they are now mercifully retiring.
the tip to tail ratio, etc. At one point it had to be 20 to 1. If we could have had all the REMFs join hands and march north, we probably could have stomped the NVA to death.
That and the accomodation of the enemy Yup, saw that. (Usually by failing to provide the "blocking force," that would really punish the NVA.) But also saw ARVN units fight like goddam tigers.
and corruption of the South Vietnamese. Let's just say that I could make up any temporary equipment deficit down at the public market!
I'm in the reserves now and did a tour in Kuwait. My unit is a navy reserve unit that guarded two ports in Kuwait and two Iraqi oil terminals. In some respects, I don't think we learned our lesson. There are way too many officers and senior enlisted and/or officers w/ starched cammies running around doing nothing and causing trouble. (these guys were all super-commandos too with all the right blackhawk gear). Our commodore put himself in for a bronze star for generally doing nothing. Some (in my unit) came only long enough to get a GWOTE and then went back to the states. I'm sure it happens in Iraq and Afghanistan and I've heard reports of Cols. and Gens. getting bronze and silver stars for being within a 5 mile radius of mortar impacts.
I don't know how much enemy accomodation happens in Iraq or Afghanistan...but I bet there is a ton of corruption.
With the tip-to-tail I wonder how many fighters are going over there for the surge. Or are we sending more clerks in uniform....