That's probably true. We needed to know how to use our three dimensional maneuvering gear, how to keep ourselves supplied, how to behave in combat, and we needed to understand the enemy we were fighting.

Anything else was superfluous. We didn't need to understand how our gear works. [He is just a little bitter about this - but he understands it, and doesn't even necessarily think he'd do anything different, had he been in charge.]