All the stuff I have read from people over in Iraq and Afghanistan indicates that military personnel, especially lower-level commanders with a lot of experience in the area, pass on a lot of life-saving information to each other.

Even the threat of IEDs and snipers is reduced by people who know the area, know the people, know the frigging LANGUAGE (too rarely!), and know what to look for on a patrol.

A lot of work is being done on moving this information back to the training level, but there's still nothing like linking up with someone who's been there a while.

Sure, luck still is a factor, but it's not the only one.