Sunfish: these two ex-RAAF officers (a valid statistical sample?) that you repeatedly refer to, and who seem to have influenced your opinions so much - I'd assumed they were long-term careerists, deeply ingrained in the ways of the military. Now we find they left early and had never intended to make a career of it - yet we're expected to accept that they epitomise the 'military mind'? If you yourself left early and never intended to make a career of it, why do they exemplify the 'military mind' any more than you do?
I'm sure there are plenty of books on military cockups and incompetence. Equally, there are plenty of books on military successes and ingenuity, which are inconvenient to your generalisations and go unmentioned. Instead, we're to draw our conclusions on current military thinking and competence from what happened at the Battle of Jutland...
Seems to be a case of carefully selecting and moulding the facts to suit your personal prejudices.