1. There are a lot of extremely intelligent enlisted personnel. I did not say otherwise. What I said was that the infantry type training is designed for the average intelligence to pass. No doubt there are 150, 160, even higher IQ enlisted types but the training is geared for the lowest common denominator.
2. I can speak with certainty that every important operations concept is cleared by the legal officer. Every. Single. One. There are review blocks for every critical staff section on the cover page (S2, S3, S6, etc.) including legal/JAG. I have on several occasions refused to sign off on a bad CONOP until some key item was addressed or clarified, and in one instance outright overruled the CONOP as totally illegal and it was nixed. I'm more puzzled how someone in G-staff would not know this. A commander would be effectively committing career suicide by haphazardly running CONOPs without his legal officer in the loop or giving legal go-ahead. In every command center, TOC, SKIF, whatever, there is a legal officer on staff for these very reasons. What, pray tell, do you think legal officers are there for anyway; potted plants?
3. If I reference my service, it is purely to show that I was often in environments where I learned and saw a lot of the relevant topic at hand. I observed, trained with, or otherwise saw that 18 series used, liked, preferred, etc. and I learned a lot in that environment. I'm friends with 18 series. I talked shop with them often. Etc. Nothing more, nothing less.
Uh, yeah, I have trained to do and could lead a platoon of 11Bs on all the tasks of an 11B. WTF do you think officers do at officer courses?
Job description and tasks for an MOSC 11B1O, commonly taught to 19 year olds: This ain't rocket surgery.
"Operates both mounted and dismounted to close with and destroy the enemy. Employs, operates, and maintains assigned weapons and equipment. Assists in the performance of reconnaissance operations. Employs, fires, and recovers anti personnel and anti tank mines. Locates and neutralizes mines. Performs self extraction from a mine field. Orients a map. Operates, mounts/dismounts, zeros, and engages targets using night vision sights. Operates and maintains communications equipment, enter, and operates in a radio net. Operates in a NBC contaminated area. Constructs and camouflages individual/crew served weapons/vehicle firing/fighting positions. Assist in the construction of fortification and barriers, including minefields and obstacles. Assist in the breaching of minefields and obstacles. Constructs field expedient firing aids for infantry weapons. Recognizes friendly and threat infantryed vehicles. Performs as a member of a fire team during a movement to contact, reconnaissance, and security, an attack, defense, situational training exercises and all infantry dismounted battle drills. Processes prisoners of war and captured documents. Operate IFV over diverse terrain in varies visibility. Assists in target detection, identification, and round sensing."
I've trained to do everything on this list, except detailed landmine field extraction, for which I had some abbreviated training on identification and avoidance. The reality is, if one finds himself in a minefield they call EOD and stay put or maneuver out the way they came in. Weapons, sights, NVGs/optics/IR lasers, radios, NBC including two passes thru the NBC chamber with and without mask, donning them in the chamber, camouflage, crew served weapons, fortifications and barriers and entry points and obstacles, field expedient first aid including combat life savers course, ambushes and hasty ambush and cover and concealment, maneuvers, detainee operations.
This is all covered in various OBC courses and other courses I've graduated from. I quite likely received MORE training in some areas than a graduate from infantry school. And probably with a aim toward a larger perspective of leading troops, not just surviving and following orders. The target audience for this 11B training is E1s e.g teaching 18 year olds. I was an 03, in a position meant to lead E6s and E5s, who in turn lead E1s. This isn't hard to understand.
Not really sure what this continued point is. This is basic infantry stuff. Not Nobel prize winning information.