I also agree you don't have to practice being miserable but we've gone about fifty paces past that. It's okay to take care of the troops; Westmorleand did it well -- perhaps too well -- in Viet Nam. I always figured he knew he was in a no win situation and decided to take as good care of people as he could under the circumstances but we over did it there and in Desert Storm and in these two we've definitely gone too far, way too far. Though I believe at least part of that is the due to the same sort of logic; we ain't gonna win but we'll make it comfortable for you...

Troops in the base camps don't need to live as rough as Joe the Grunt -- but they don't need to live like they're not at war either. That is every bit as inimical (if not more so) to decent performance and morale for both the REMFs and the grunts as no amenities at all.