As a practical matter, American soldiers are extraordinarily clever in fashioning devices from Radio Shack parts, etc. While in Viet Nam, I was constantly amazed at the useful tech gadgets devised by soldiers under my command from parts, either ordered from a catalog, or sent from home by wives and parents. Some of these gadgets were adopted by “official” military organizations and after appropriate vetting were available through ordnance channels. Meanwhile, we continued to use the locally constructed gadgets until we could get them through the regular channels. Without going into detail, some of these gadgets were absolutely mind boggling and all invented by soldiers with high school education, and, of course, military training, with a vested interest in improving our chances for survival and winning.