Cognitive Waste

Generation Kill. It's a new series from HBO. Worth watching. One of the more interesting aspects of the show, at least to me (which will probably be lost to many), is how well it depicts a 2GW command/control system in a modern context.
It also shows how all of that brainpower at the bottom of the pyramid goes to waste. Unfortunately, this brainpower/cognitive capacity in combination with unique situational data is several orders of magnitude superior (both in quality and quantity) to that available at the top of the hierarchy (where all the decision making is being made). Perhaps the fatal flaw in classic conventional militaries is that they waste nearly all of their cognitive capacity...