Lebanon lessons for American troops?

Short note here: Letting your army become overly skilled in asymmetric warfare may hurt it when a war becomes semi-conventional.

Early information from Israel points at the seemingly higher than expected loss of Israeli tanks may be due in part to crews becoming rusty in conventional warfare tactics. When tanks were hit by masses (many hundreds) of anti-tank missiles, the reservist crews forgot to use their smoke generation counter-measures to conceal their vehicles. The same is true of the Israeli warship struck by the Chinese built anti-ship missile. They forgot to turn on their anti-missile short-range defense systems.

The second case is beginning to appear to be one of underestimating the foe by the Israeli Navy. The first appears to be the lack of re-training soldiers from the anti-insurgency role they have been playing for years back into a classic conventional role last seen in 1973 (and to some extent 1982).

While the facts are still being investigated, and changes will come to the IDF, this situation begs the question of American troops. Are our soldiers being used in such a way in Afghanistan and Iraq that would dull the spear if it were needed in a war with a more conventional army like North Korea or China (in Taiwan)? Would our tank crews forget the basics of tank on tank fighting, or basic self-defense measures? Israel's tanks were stopped when hit with enough firepower (massed in numbers that are amazing). Our tanks have shown that they are also not invincible, but are mainly at risk from IED's not anti-tank missiles. For now that is...

People in the military and on the right often say that we need to learn from Israel with the inference that the IDF does not make mistakes. Here is an example in which we need to take heed:

1. Never assume an asymmetric threat won't hit conventionally.
2. Don't let your immediate problems dull you basic training.
3. Do not underestimate your foe. Ever.