No General has the troops or equipment he feels he needs, the Italian campaign is a testament to that truism, and what did the Germans call our tanks at the time?
Tommy Cookers.
During the Great War the front line troops often complained about the provisions, if you go further back we lost more to disease than wounds in the second Anglo Boer War and then you've got the Crimean war too, some things never change.
The problem stems from the expenses scandal more than anything else.
For all the references to the Vietnam war the analogy doesn't stand up, tactically at least, the great lessons from that war were, experienced troops are better in combat and flying about in helicopters won't win any ground.
It appears to me that some people think it is possible to wage war without tears, it's not.