you made me laugh with that one GoreTex....Les Grau is a friend and colleague....you are reading the "right" book on Afghanistan
He was TRYING to read it...
HA! "When I was in the Army..."
...it was the job of the unit conducting the range to run concurrent training. And it usually sucked.
Hmmm, if this range was preparing for deployment, then they should certainly have scheduled background briefings, and The Bear Went Over The Mountain and The Other Side Of The Mountain should have been included.
But GorTex6 is right, reading is not seen as fundamental for NCOs, just as shooting anything but what the Army issues you, at anytime that the Army didnt' schedule, is viewed with suspicion. (OK, I've been retired 5 years, things may have changed, but would I bet on it...?)