The reference was only intended to highlight the effects of training, discipline and practice - not anything about the outcome of the conflict.
It is the individual actions of the "inexperienced" soldiers, encountering real combat for the first time that is significant. The training and practice allowed them to use that technology edge effectively.
Applied to trading, this means developing a system with a reasonably defensive posture, having the discipline to exit when the indicators tell you to, even if you "feel" there is more room to run or that the drop is only temporary.
As for the disparity of information between the professional traders (read that "street insiders") and the rest of us. Always has been, always will. But I believe the edge is shifting and will continue to be reduced. Companies providing private briefings to select analysts is starting to draw fire, which will get stronger.
Finishing with Desert Storm, the issue wasn't (IMO) "inferior weapons and inferior intelligence" (as in gathering), it was time, tactics and leadership. If Iraq intended to fight and hold on, it should have moved into Saudi Arabia as soon as it had Kuwait under control. Waiting for us to deliver resources to the region was a serious strategic error. That error, followed by applying tactics appropriate to a less technically competent foe (Iran) sealed their fate.
They blinked. If they hadn't, the outcome would have been, I believe, ultimately the same, but much more painful to us.
Ira |
