Back in the 80s my employer used Collins KWM-2s to maintain an overseas HF E&E net. The communicators were instructed on how to tune the thing up, and with few exceptions, did so successfully without having any knowledge of reactance or ohm's law. Nor did they need to learn CW... if the mike broke they just drew another one from their spare stock.
Interestingly, any military manual I've read seems geared to the 'lowest common denominator' (average GI without technical training) for things like this, John. Outside of the actual techs responsible for maintaining the gear, the attitude seemed to be 'you need to know how to operate it, not how to design it or even how it works'. Basic troubleshooting tips include things like 'check to see if unit is plugged in', check fuse, etc. Nothing terribly in depth. The 'destruct' portion had more detailed information.
But amateur radio is dying for all of the reasons we know - computers, satellite TV, cellphones, video games, etc, are more interesting to kids. The population dumbed down, and the service followed. Hopefully people like us can encourage hams new and old to keep learning.
Some do, Bacon, but too many seem unwilling to either acknowledge new hams due to a 'lesser' testing standard or because they are too self-absorbed with their collecting, nets, contests, whatever. Collectively we hold the future to amateur radio, but many are either unable to comprehend this or unwilling to make the least little contribution if it doesn't immediately benefit them somehow. Never realizing that helping others now will benefit us all in the future.
