Modern American warriors retain the old GI’s capacity to innovate and adapt technology on the battlefield.
Anyone not gobsmacked by the idea of flying a helicopter on Mars has no soul. The sight of NASA’s Ingenuity conducting the first powered flight on another planet should have left all Americans awed and deeply impressed with themselves.
Innovation, adaption, and creativity may not be an American birthright, but it is surely in the American DNA. Our people have long applied these innovative skills in military affairs, making ingenuity part of the American way of war.
The traditional view of the American military is as a large bureaucratic organization, one in which orders come from the top and are executed at the bottom. There is truth in that. But, there is another face to how Americans fight.