Teribus ... and the same comment goes for clothing, weapons, logistics, tactics, commanders..... the list goes on. But fear not! Britain stands not alone! It appears that most armies representing long established governments throughout history have done much the same thing. It always seems to take either a defeat of major proportions, or a completely new hand at the top to bring in anything that smacks of - shock horror - progress. As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, small things get bigger, plain things get fancy, useful things get hung on to after their usefulness is long over, and the poor sod in the red coat / red trousers / kilt / cuirass / bell-top shako / bicorne / tin-can tank gets to reap the immediate, often painful, consequences.

Or maybe it only seems like the generals are always ready to fight the last war. God alone knows what the politicians are ready to fight.