Wallace served in Vietnam for a year as an officer, which was the usual time for a tour of duty. On his return he won a scholarship to study in Paris, after which he taught international relations at West Point but soon decided that academia was not for him. I saw law as the practising branch of political science and being a lawyer gave me the chance to get into international affairs in the way that being a professor wouldn't. Wallace does not come over as a military man, although when you know that he once was, you can detect that certain steeliness that tends to be imparted by time in the army. He spends most of the interview in a very un-military slouch and comes over as relaxed, although not as relaxed as his Californian background might suggest.
Soldiers are easier to manage because there's a certain hierarchy there.
It's the eternal herding cats problem and Wallace has yet to find out whether US or European cats fall into line quicker.