ORIGINAL: Arjuna
Firepower totals are already provided so I think that's a moot point.
I for one was originally in favour of going all metric but was convinced by others ( they know who they are [;)] ) to display those "quaint" imperial measures for the Brits, The irony is that now the Brits have gone metric and the Yanks have gone retro and brought back imperial measures. [;)]
We actually never converted. They made an attempt back when I was still a school boy. Getting a new generation of school children to accept and learn a different system wasn't so difficult. It was the economic impact of retooling every manufacturing and production facility across the country that eventually killed the effort.
We have some legacies of the effort in that most containers have dual labeling and most manufacturers and even most automobile enthusiasts now refer to engine size in liters rather than in cubic inches.
The one that still gives me the most difficulty is temperature. I have been reading the Stackpole Military History Series books this past year, many of which are recent translations of works of German soldiers. When I read of combat actions in minus 30 degree weather I have a hard time relating to it as in our system "minus" doesn't refer to "zero" it refers to "freezing" which is 32 degres, so "minus 30" to me means 2 degrees above "zero" which isn't anywhere close to as cold as 30 degrees Celsius (Centagrade) below freezing.
I have the same difficulty with references to the temp warming up on the battlefield. When these German soldiers refer to it warming up to a more comfortable temp of 16 degrees, to me that is still 16 degrees below freezing, which I don't consider warm at all!
I have just never been able to make the conversion in my head from Celsius to Farenhiet.[&:]