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“their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of ‘rights’… and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure.” Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers 1959
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Yes, I did intend for it to sound that way. Usually (but not always), the military is employed towards some political end. If we are to maintain a reliable, all-volunteer military force to achieve the occasionally controversial political objective, then either the reliability of the volunteers needs to be a criteria for their selection, or more effort needs to be made to find consensus among the volunteers. During the Revolutionary War, unpaid volunteers simply walked off the job. Now, disgruntled volunteers can compromise national security to a surprising scope and depth. The problem isn't the soldier, his access to information, or even the fact that he released classified material to the public. The problem is that we have yet to reconcile the all-volunteer military concept (and the unique accompanying characteristic of American culture to glorify and hero-worship military service) with the increasingly expeditionary character of our military operations.
When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles. - Louis Veuillot
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
The issue isn't the all-volunteer concept itself, but the employment of a glorified all-volunteer military used in an expeditionary manner for the occasional controversial political objective. The Iraq leak could not reconcile the two, and decided to expose what he thought to be criminal and immoral behavior. Soldiers are encouraged, after all, to act with integrity and personal courage, and the Army's own values led him in that direction. There is a cognitive dissonance at the core of this issue. One solution is to screen volunteers for their political reliability.
When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles. - Louis Veuillot
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
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