I have been following this show on the History Channel - Battle 360.
It follows the exploits and adventures of the carrier USS Enterprise during its campaign in the Second World War.
One thing struck me amidst the battles in the Pacific.
In 1943, the Japanese had the world's best navy and some of the world's best pilots.
But in 1944, they were losing like crazy.
Historians were of the opinion that they lost in terms of skilled fighters and sailors.
Most had died in 1943 in their first few assaults. The people they had fighting a year later were newbies who could barely fly planes, let alone triumph in a dog fight.
The Americans, meanwhile, valued life. For whatever reason. Politics, maybe? Or because they're the good guys.
Anyway, the Americans had better pilots and better soldiers.
So they began shooting the Japanese out of the skies and out of the water. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
Even though the Japanese Zeroes - Mitsubishis - were faster than the US Navy's Hellcats and Sabers.
They just had better people. Whom they did not discard away on a whim.
So the war was won and lost because of human capital. Human resource.
It was the single important variable during the war in the Pacific.
If you have better-trained people, anything you do would succeed, even against superior technology.
Then, the Americans, I noticed, placed a lot of stock in morale. Ice cream bets, rewards and even designating ace pilots with five kills.
We should all learn from winners, not losers.
