How the West was won

Perhaps never in the history of the world had there been so many officers assembled who knew more about the art of war and less about fighting. For there is a difference, and the difference is written in blood.
Battles are initiated by generals; they are won by company, platoon, or squad actions, and it is an Alice-in-Wonderland of all armies that soldiers are taught hours of meaningless maneuvers on the drill field until they move with beauty and precision...almost as a group of chorus girls.
Nobody ever thinks to teach them to fight. That, they must learn in the field if they survive long enough to learn.

Ma had worried about Lilith, with her fancy notions, bu Sam had been closer to Lilith than any of them had been, and he was not worried. She was young, but there was in her a kind of steel he recognized. Lilith would make her own way, and in that way she was as much a pioneer as any of them, perhaps more than any of them, for her way would be different. In each generation there are some who break with tradition, and she was such a one.