Every time someone's tried to apply business principles to the Army, it's been my observation that the troops take it in the shorts and the Officers are forced into ever more mind numbing contortions to justify esoteric efforts of small import.

Westinghouse errs building Swiffleglucks because there's really no market and they sell the flawed job at a discount, take a tax write off and produce a few more relays and capacitors. The Army errs with a business practice and somebody's gonna get killed.

Having worked for Hilton Hotels, Atlantic Research and Hughes; those guys have little to anything to offer that translates well. I have to disagree with Surferbeetle that business is a place where America excels at unconventional and quick thinking. That is almost certainly true at the medium size and smaller business levels, it is emphatically untrue, IMO, with the majors (with the possible exceptions of 3M and GE ). Unfortunately, our Army has far more in common with Microsoft and Delta than it does with Apple and Southwest.