I don't think it is the cause of their problems; immediate prohibition of alcohol wouldn't "fix" them. It's a byproduct of some of the other problems and might

I don't think it is the cause of their problems; immediate prohibition of alcohol wouldn't "fix" them. It's a byproduct of some of the other problems and might even be a mitigation of some of the discipline and behavior issues; its easier to put up with stupid shit when you're drunk. I have been lectured by a fellow who did serve in active conflicts about the various military traditions he experienced; he analyzed them by unit cohesion. How big can a team in an army be? How long does it take for a new squad of thrown together strangers to become a team? and so on. With no fondness for the American command structure, he still rated the American armed forces as pretty good because real, problem focused teams can be large ("up to several hundreds of people!"), and assemble quickly. Other forces he characterized as "lost individuals with occasional supply drops."