[whdonnelly]

Suhir,
Here is my 2 cents as a senior NCO in the US Army.
I have to take exception to the following comment:
The Brit system tends to produce "professional" senior enlisted men, who train not only the troops but the officers.
The American system is to have "professional" officers who train the enlisted men.

In 22 years the only that has ever trained me was a uniformed lawyer who gave us "Laws of Land Warfare and Rules of Engagement" classes.
The US Army ,at least, is more like the description you have for the Brits, except that training is conducted more and more by junior NCOs or by "train the trainer" types of events where a team size element will train itself using computer based training or situational templates. All the senior NCOs do are supervise and guide the training to keep it on track. The benefit is that you get some very "out of the box" ideas from the new soldiers, the downside is that it takes longer than the alternative of "I talk, you listen."
I agree strongly with the rest of your comments.