FM 3-27.75 The Warrior Ethos and Soldier Combat Skills

[marct]

Hi Guys,

Those who regard "warrior ethos" as a buzzword should pull the thread on it, back to the 90's. The Marines adopted it right about the time Sarah Lister proudly claimed that soldiers were better normed with society than Marines. The Marine reply was "she's right and we're glad." They turned her slight into a brag, going even further by claiming a 24/7 characteristic and attitude held by all Marines, a (you guessed it) warrior ethos.

The problem is that the "buzz-word" has replaced developing soldiers, with discipline. You cannot turn a soldier who is naturally a born-victim into a warrior, and frankly, you don't want to. But you CAN make born victims into soldiers, and you CAN enforce discipline.

Hmmm. 120, have you noticed that the Marines have what amounts to a "regimental consciousness" (Corps wide)? Adopting a "warrior" label, while certainly incorrect terminology, does fit in with group symbolic protection - i.e. the symbolic "walls" a group builds around itself to define us-them boundaries. The real problem is the secondary loops set up - the semantic associations.

Enforcing discipline, throughout the Army, has nothing to do with renaming everything "Warrior". The "Warrior Ethos" is nothing less than a slick internal marketing ploy by the "Brylcreem Boys" who value career over leadership. The Army isn't "better" because I eat at a "Warrior Cafe" instead of a "Mess Hall". And the Army Reserve is no more "battle ready" because we burn 48 UTAs a year doing B.S. mandatory sex harassment/EO classes in a "Battle Assembly" instead of a "drill."

Honestly, "Warrior Cafe"?!? I'm getting images of Vercingetorix ordering a half goat, half sheep mocha latte!

Anyway, it's all part of the semantic drift when you associate a new label with a core component of identity. One of the things I've noticed about marketing, and I'll be intrigued to see what RA thinks, is that while there is a tremendous amount of expertise at manipulating symbols, there is a very short time horizon on the effects of such a manipulation.

As an example, "warrior" is, at the deep cultural symbol level, a class or caste in western cultures. Furthermore, it is extremely individualistic and/or blood line oriented. It is a group that is set apart by inherent differences. This is totally different from the concept of "soldier" and, especially, of "citizen-soldier" which carries with it the concept of combat as a civic duty and a function of citizenship (not blood line). Entry is via training processes that are available to all citizens and involves the imposition/acceptance of discipline, as compared to the concept of a warriors inherent "ability".

What is most frustrating, is that there are a bunch of people who are not mentally equipped to notice the difference between the so-called building of "Warriors" and actually developing and enforcing "Disciplined Soldiers".

I guess my poor attitude means I haven't "transformed" enough to truly generate "synergistic" effects through "bootstrapping new paradigms."

It's Bull####, in other words.

LOLOL - Yup, but it is high quality Bravo Sierra . Possibly more importantly, it actually fits in with the current models of games played by many kids as they are growing up - complete with the disregard for any civic duties. This means that it is attractive to a lot of the kids ("Hot Damn! Wi II wants to play!").

Marc