Since military operations in international settings often place a greater emphasis on cooperating with indigenous forces and working within local populations the understanding of cultural factors - what is commonly referred to as cultural awareness - is frequently stressed in military training. This article presents a slightly dissenting view from mainstream cultural awareness training and critically analyses the 'primacy of culture perspective', concluding that cultural factors will not significantly alter human nature and that military commanders often tend to overcomplicate the issue of culture. This article will argue that most human behaviours are universal - not cultural - and that although understanding cultural factors may appear to be an operational necessity, they do not fundamentally change the principles of warfare, military strategy or the military profession. Culture is one factor to consider in military operations, but by no means the most crucial. This article also considers the perspective that cultural awareness has to start with an awareness of our own culture and how we will be perceived in international operations.