Violence steps up in Syria

[Harleyman]

Harleyman, entirely correct, sophisticated modern military hardware needs skilled and well trained technicians to maintain it. Such people are pretty rare birds in the Arab military as the rulers of any given Arab country don't like to have their military too efficient, as they'd run the risk of a coup. When working, the kit needs well trained operators too - again something Arabs aren't particularly good at. This is mostly down to the hierarchical structure of Arab armed forces, where knowledge is power and initiative NOT encouraged. The (often low) level of education of the general population is also a factor which doesn't tend to make for an efficient fighting force. Then tribal/clan politics starts to kick in and it just makes a mockery of the whole tottering edifice.

 

Your basic Arab army is good for intimidating the local populace and keeping the incumbent despot in power - but modern combined operations against a well trained and equipped foe, well that's just going to end very badly for the Arab, as has been demonstrated several times since the end of WW2.

 

 

For certain a crew man in an Abrahams tank needs to be computer proficient to the degree that his particular job demands