Back in October of 1991, Dave Kopel & Glenn Reynolds wrote about the Afghans’ supposed martial prowess — and Americans’ supposed lack of martial prowess. They pointed to Americans’ (or American geeks’) experience with War Games:
So here’s the funny thing. While the official American culture around, say, 1977, was revolted by anything military, a bunch of the nation’s smartest young males — the “leaders of tomorrow” — were reading Panzer Leader and Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart’s Strategy, and of course Sun Tzu’s Art of War — which wargamers were reading long before it became a business-school cliché.This was no accident. Many of those who founded the wargame publishing business feared that, with the anti-militarism caused by the Vietnam, and (later) with the adoption of the all-volunteer army, American society would become estranged from all things military, leaving ordinary citizens too ignorant to make meaningful democratic judgments where war is concerned. They hoped that realistic simulation games would teach important principles.