1. Schmedlap, you are right as far as you go. Agree with Ken's reply. Would only add that sites like this bring debates into the open in ways that did not exist previously. Also, see Richard D. Downie's, LEARNING FROM CONFLICT. COL (ret) Downie's book is cited and credited by John N with inspiring his approach.
2. Ken, must disagree on one point. Throughout the 19th century, the officers who fought the big wars (1812, Mexico, Civil, and Sp-American) were mainly veterans of the Indian Wars or went on to fight in the Indian Wars. this same trend continued into the 20th century. The problem was that few of those officers internalized the lessons from their small wars or internalized the wrong ones. This is reflected today in the Nagl-Gentile debate (which never would have happened in any open and transparent way at any other time).

Cheers

JohnT