For some reason there is an impression out there that modern combat is all about high-tech gizmos, button pushing, leveling entire blocs with guided munitions and so on. I guess that the defense contractors have made a very good job convincing the tax-payers that what they charge for is worth every penny.
When it comes to fighting insurgencies, there is also a tendency to regard significant casualties of the conventional forces as a rare event, something like a deviation from the norm. I subscribed to this popular wisdom and in the only CMSF scenario featuring insurgents I ever made I punished the Blue player with significant point losses if the player had more than 30% casualties.
In "We Were One", Patrick O'Donnell has a very detailed account of the actions of a Plt. of Marines during the Battle of Fallujah. These Marines entered Fallujah after the armored formations, with the purpose of cleaning up the insurgents who on purpose remained hidden during the first hours of the assault. These Marines fought block to block with their meager organic weapons, even using bangalores sometimes. To my astonishment, during some peaks of fight they lost one or two guys (injured or killed) every other block.
I'm totally floored by this book.