Funny thing is I wrote a paper while taking college courses(University of Maryland) in the military this was a few months before the Iraq War III in 2003.The paper compared The Vietnam War with the then current War in Afghanistan and then still "hypothetical" war in Iraq.
I had to use as part of my sources two people with expert knowledge about the Vietnam War so I interviewed by father and my 1st cousin one removed who went to the USMC War College.They both (and myself) predicted that unless it was expressly planned for both Afghanistan and Iraq would deteriorate into a difficult counter-insurgency.
So does that make me smarter than most current generals and politicians?
Of course these where college courses so no officers present in undergraduate courses as they already have their B.S. or B.A.
That was the only paper I actually enjoyed writing and presenting.