I'm pretty sure the author thinks more highly of his audience than that. It gets your attention, then you think "oh, that can't be real", and then, hopefully,

I'm pretty sure the author thinks more highly of his audience than that. It gets your attention, then you think "oh, that can't be real", and then, hopefully, "but it's the same sort of thing that they really use, and training to spot cars and signs is probably useful in a military context."