Indeed, they aren't building successful rockets. But the re-learning process for them would still be much faster than if you start with people with zero experie

Indeed, they aren't building successful rockets. But the re-learning process for them would still be much faster than if you start with people with zero experience. It's like saying there's no point in keeping a National Guard around, because if a war comes, the guardsmen will have no actual war fighting experience. That might be true, but they'll still be able to man a 155mm howitzer, or dig a trench, or perform a patrol at night in a forest or 100 other things better than me.