I do hope you caught my attempt at humor. The 'Guy on the ground' in this example (50 years of operation debate) are you and FTroop or anyone else that has the 'Done That/Been There' t-shirt.

Here is an excerpt from the professional reviewer:

"His treatise on command and control is on point: Many leaders hear, but do not listen to the guy on the ground. “The guy on the ground” is a metaphor for an individual who is physically interacting with their environment. They are the best source of information about the reality of the situation on the ground."(David Abel,Book Review: The Mission, The Men, and Me | Small Wars Journal)

The tangential application is the tremendous loss of strategic capability caused by people who will not directly encounter the consequences, making a decision opposite to expert opinion. They will only benefit politically. While the people closest to the consequences pay the most.

Great book. Many scale-able lessons. And if memory serves me, he highlights that UAVs are not a panacea. It was brought up in Blabers book or 'Not A Good Day to Die' (also good).

Cheers