Good point. I spent 13 months in Vietnam. When reporting the results of air or artillery strikes we often erred on the side of higher numbers. We were dependent on air and artillery so we wanted to keep those people enthusiastic about their roles. At the time I never thought I might be contributing to a distortion at the theater level. But historically that’s what was happening.
It’s a well-known behavior that predates history. Battlefield casualty estimates often exceed the number of combatants—I always chalk those ones up to Democrat historians. The difference is that those “encouraging” numbers are now reported in many venues without caveat.
“Polishing the brass” has a long military history. This was a problem in Vietnam as well for similar reasons. Poor leadership infects the entire culture.