My boss who was not American, of course, knew more about America and American culture than anybody I knew, including myself. He had a special extensive knowledge about the US military. He knew of its strength and its weaknesses and its history. Practically all of it. Of course the strength of the US military lies in its technological forte and its production capabilities. And he said that its weakness was not in the military itself, but the society in which it lives.
One of his favorite stories was when America’s first ever special operations missions ended in the capture of all the US men simply because the US navy refused to go pick them up.
He also used to say to us there are some sort of corruption in every type of government.
There are those who suffer from megalomania who literally hamper progress. It’s bad enough that people have to fight corruption but it really demoralizes one’s soul when you have to fight each other. So, during training he taught us to help each other and one of the ways he did this was by instilling us with respect for the enemy who are in uniform. They train as hard as I do, and maybe even more, because they have to do with less than what I have. Even today I carry more of my respect for my enemies than for half the people I’ve worked for or with.
I guess it’s easier to fight an enemy who is clearly visible then to have to fight one of you own.