Two weeks have past. A new post is past due.
I have several thoughts I plan on expounding upon soon. But first, I would like to begin a series I’m going to call ‘Hard Truths’. In fact, as we are all learning, other then The Truth, everything else tends to be well though out opinions and perceptions. With that disclaimer I’ll start this series off with a topic I am confronted with daily. Without further ado…
Yesterday’s events:
0800 – Awoke despite no alarm clock
0830 – Took too long a shower, especially nice after the cold night
0900 – Went to work and checked email
1000 – Watched Sportscenter
1100 – Went to Burger King and bought a Double Whopper
1200 – Went home, threw on the movie Hero and relaxed
1500 – Started the crossword puzzle
1515 – Decided to take a nap
1700 – Went to dinner – Indian food…God I love curry
1800 – Back to the crossword
2000 – Read a book
2200 – Went to bed
Sound familiar? It reminds me of so many days I’ve spent in the past. The difference, this day was spent in a War Zone.
Professional Soldiers. All volunteer military. These are primary military bragging points for the past thirty years. As a nation we soaked this bit of propaganda up with the same thirst we drank Ockham’s Razor.
As a general statement, people want to believe the simple answer is the correct one. So it would stand to reason that a military built of trained professionals who make it their life to hone skills meant to kill and destroy is the only way to go. What do we know of professionals? Professionals are the best at what they do correct?
The first line of work most think of when they hear the term ‘professional’ is athletics. A professional athlete simply is the elite. One earns the title of ‘professional’ through years of hard work, hours at the gym, brutal practices, hours contemplating strategy and study of his opponents. But few actually rise to the top. It is these who outdistance their peers who earn the coveted title of a professional athlete.
With this in mind, it is no accident the military uses the same term. Re-read the above description, sounds like a winning combination for a military man doesn’t it? The simple answer is yes. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. The route word in ‘professional’ is ‘profession’. Here lies our problem and the core difference between a professional athlete and a professional soldier (other then the money, prestige and hordes of woman admirers of course).
What is the goal of war? To bring the enemy into submission via violence. Any other definition is ideological and sweet, but childish and ultimately fatally wrong. It stands to reason then, war is an unsavory business. Why then would we make it a profession?
As a professional you train to maintain a status allowing you to continue in your profession. You long for job security. The purpose of your training is no longer to get to where you are, but to maintain the status quo. Does this sound like a good thing for soldiers to be participating in? Do we want to protect the jobs of those whose sole purpose is to kill and destroy? Depend on who you are.
By your leave, I’ll end the ever loosening analogy and speak my feelings directly concerning a professional military. A professional military is built for self preservation. Self preservation leads to lack of effectiveness. Lack of effectiveness in war leads to death.
‘Downsizing’, the dreaded catch word from the mid-eighties and nineties scared everyone except stock holders. Workers hated the idea of streamlining, but the ultimate result was higher yields, less costs and greater employment. The military hates the idea of peace like a mid level manager hates mergers.
Peace is a professional soldier’s nightmare. It means there is no longer any need for him or his trade. It means he has to go home. It means he no longer can feast upon the dollars thrown his way in the name of patriotism. But is this what we want? Is this the reason we built a military? Something is intrinsically wrong with this picture.
The question I’m asked most by my peers and my leadership is not ‘What are you doing for the country today?’ or ‘What did you do to defeat terrorism?’, rather ‘Do you plan on staying in?’
WHAT THE HELL!?!
See, war is no longer considered bad. And why should we think any different? My God, I ate a Whopper today, paid for with tax free income! You cannot win wars with leaders whose primary concern is if you want to make a career out of the military.
It goes without saying that we must have those who make killing and the training of killers their life. Where would we be if the high brass and those training the boots on the ground did not make a life of the military? Yet there is a difference between a ‘lifer’ and experience and expertise.
I’ve never been to a dog fight, but I’ve read about them. One thing is clear; a hungry dog will kill a well satisfied, fat dog ten out of ten times. Why would soldiers be any different? Do you want ‘warriors’ who have no incentive to fight to win?
No and no! If I am building a military to go to war, I want those who don’t want to be there. I want those who can’t wait to go home to their wives and sweethearts. Those who not only hate, but abhor war. I want a fighting force full of men pressed into killing because it’s the only way to end this confrontation and go home. I want cold meals and hard beds.
I’m sorry if this sounds very harsh, especially from a Naval Officer. I truly believe we are paying for our decisions. This war is not being fought to win. It is not due to a lack of funding, training or expertise. It is due to a lack of desire and the heritage we established. Please do not misunderstand. The military is a honerable thing. Military service and service members should be held in regard and esteem. Furthermore, I think all men should serve their country. But in no way, shape or form, should the military be concidered a career path. It is not akin to the butcher, the baker or the candlestick maker; rather the last resort of civilized societies.
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6 comments:
Turn out the lights and give the fat dog night vision and a sniper rifle and then see who wins 10 out 10.
Well, I have to agree, because I wish you were here with me, instead of out there eating your unhealthy Burger King. When I could be cooking you some of my famous stir-fry and then we would be on the way to the hospital to deliver this baby boy growing inside of me.
I am not one to know much about the military, but I guess that the word "career" for military life has different intentions for all. I understand your point. Some go to just get away and most just need some one to ride there butt to make them do something "honorable" so that they can make there family and or friends proud. (remember we live in America and we are all spoiled rotten)Remember, its not easy to get your parents to tell you that you made them proud on a regular basis.
It seems like creativity is a rare thing in people these days. Finding a career that is motivated by desire and passion and having the ability to pay for it, maintain the dream and see results is a HUGE thing these days. maybe one in 10 kids will do this out of high School, but most of the time they just blend with all the others because everyone else "claims" to be doing the same thing. Eventually they tire out and society throws them in a cubical and pays them good money to keep there mouth shut.
Money is what rules out here in the real world. Soldiers are honored because they are putting there lives on the line and giving the greatest gift to our coutry to serve and protect, "TIME".
Time is the most valuable thing that you can give someone. (a great friend told me that one time)I never forgot that.
With that said, I am proud of you for giving your time to our country. When your done, come home and lets go to the beach and teach this little baby to surf. (how does Hawaii sound?)
I don’t think a professional army is the answer to effectiveness either. What would be effective is a core group of high paid mercenaries. Professional soldiers still want purpose, hope and patriotism. Unrealistic expectations in todays screwed up world. Mercenaries are cold, incentive; get the target before it gets you, motivated by money guys. Morals and fair play are for school boys when you are fighting today’s wars. The reality is, we are fighting an enemy that wants to kill us. They don’t want our money, land, food oil or women. They want us dead. You don’t deal with that by the reach your hand out and respect your enemy, take the high road attitude. You kill them before they kill you. As professional soldiers we do not have the stomach for that type attitude. This would not be your fathers John Wayne, hero marines. However this is not Pearl Harbor either. We just need enough professional soldiers to keep the mercenaries in line.
Tony,
I completely agree. I think you understood and concisely said what i was feeling.
luke
You were right that your latest entry was provocative. I think you are right that 'war is hell' and that is the ONLY way to view it without perversion. My guess is that you see a lot of corrupt and ignorant fat cats that throw away young lives without a thought. All with the idea of their next promotion. They will answer for that someday. But what I was thinking, was that because we live in a fallen world, we need a standing army. Not that anyone in anyway should promote or sustain war to have a job, but that even when there is no war, we need an army to stand by, trained and ready to protect our country.So in that regard, men who understand the strategies of defense and how to respond need to be in place. You can hardly train an army after a war starts. And having an army is a deterrent of sorts. So IF we need a standing army, we need men willing to "make a career of it". Not a career of WAR. This is where I thought you got a little blurry. You could, in my mind, be "staying in" and not planning on prolonging a war. And is it really necessary to make being at war more difficult in order to motivate the men to win? Maybe in regard to some of those generals, that might be the case. Let them live like the rest of the troops. But surely personal discomfort is not the noblest motivation to win, though it would be the most in your face. That the troops believe in "the cause" to me should be the impetus to win. Think of the revolutionary war, the civil war, WWI and II. That is why they stayed, and endured the misery. Not only just to "get the hell out", but to do what was right. We need leaders to define and articulate our purpose in such a way that the men would follow them to their deaths for such a cause. Men that say like Patrick Henry, "I regret that I have but one life to give to my country".
Now I realize that I am an idealist, but we must do our best to live by ideas don't you think? Especially when it comes to war. I can see that you and Tony, both having been in the military have a more pragmatic view. One thing though, this pragmatic view is full of its own idealism. Like where are you going to get these mercenaries and the likely sources are liable to rape and pillage you as well as your enemies.
My Mama brings up a good point about the unsavory potential of Tony's proposed mercenaries. And in fact if we could find some mercenaries hell bent on burning and pillaging I think we'd be on the right track.
You should not go into war unless you are in fact prepared to do the worst things imaginable. If you are not ready to completely destroy, pillage and kill every man woman and child, then your constitution is lacking and you have no place entering into such a business as war. This is exactly why I attempted to say politely that we have no incentive, either private civilian or soldier.
My mother said believing in the cause should be enough, sadly that is the idealism that puts our boys in harms way. I’m reminded of a retelling of the joyful hugs and kisses shared between the German’s and French when an armistice was finally drawn up in World War I. Other than perhaps a civil or revolutionary war, I can't come up with a war in which simply believing in the cause has relevance.
Yes, we need a military built, trained and maintained by qualified men of expertise. It would be foolish to think otherwise. However, the military should not be a career path. It is something that is done out of need. Otherwise it is simply a job.
I suppose my whole point was this: our main goal as should be to extradite ourselves from warfare, not soften it to a point of a blasé career choice in a vain with lawyer, architect or bus driver.
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