Civil-military relations and the u.s. Strategy deficit
Mac Owens of Naval War College/FPRI fame has a thoughtful piece at the FPRI website.
His thesis is that we are looking at the civ-mil relations issue from the wrong angle. One of the key points is that we have "operationalized" military professional development to the point that we have lost the ability to function at the strategic level.
I'm not sure how much I'm buying that argument given the large strategic (little s) focus of the Army staff college and SAMS. Back in the day, both were clearly operational and tactical. Now, not so much.
The piece by Carl Builder he references is also an excellent read.
link:
http://www.fpri.org/enotes/201002.ow...relations.html
Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012. - CHARLES J. DUNLAP, JR.
A thoughtful essay on this very topic;
Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012. - CHARLES J. DUNLAP, JR.
http://www.uwec.edu/sfpj/Origins.pdf
Abstract:
I am calling my paper the "Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012." I think it's important to get the truth recorded before they rewrite history. If we're ever going to get our freedom back, we've got to understand how we got into this mess. People need to understand that the armed forces exist to support and defend government, not to be the government. Faced with intractable national problems on one hand, and an energetic and capable military on the other, it can be all too seductive to start viewing the military as a cost-effective solution. We made a terrible mistake when we allowed the armed forces to be diverted from their original purpose...
Today's military is not the one we knew when we graduated from the War College.
From Parameters, Winter 1992-93, pp. 2-20, CHARLES J. DUNLAP, JR.
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Paul
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Charlie Dunlap as fiction writer
MG Charles Dunlap, better known as Deputy Judge Advocate General, U.S. Air Force, will be retiring 1 Jun 2010. Perhaps, he will then enlighten us with an update to his 2012 coup "novella" - and why the coup did not take place.
Since his fictional crystal ball has been somewhat cloudy (as has mine), his day job turned out to be more productive. MG Dunlap is one of the world's SMEs in rules of engagement and the use of "lawfare" in irregular warfare. See this thread, Lawfare - Theory & Practice, for a number of his serious articles.
Regards
Mike
