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Two Thoughts on America's Military
Dec. 15th, 2010 09:53 amI mentioned in yesterday's post about how "target rich" the blogging environment had become. So, in keeping with yesterday's "invading Mexico is a given - what to do with it isn't" post (called by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bdunbar "the dumbest thing I've read all week"), I give you two thoughts on the American war machine.
First, I give you you can go strangle yourself with that yellow ribbon. Written by a Marine sniper, it's a lengthy reflection on the current "all-volunteer" military. In the interests of full disclosure, I served, but in peacetime. Key points of the article:
Second, from the always-interesting blog Obsidian Wings, I give you a reminder of how unusual and "un-American" the current large-military / perpetual state of war is. In this post, the author reminds us that the Founding Fathers, and indeed most Americans up until the 1940s, were strongly opposed to a large standing military. After all, the First Congress, full of Revolutionary War vets and drafters of the Constitution, didn't authorize a US Navy and a did created a regular Army of a single company to guard artillery at West Point. They also constitutionally-limited military budgets to two years, because they wanted the each newly-elected House of Representatives to have to explicitly authorize the military.
Now, the days of relying on militia for defense are over, modern war being what it is - even the Swiss have regular forces. On the other hand, one of my many issues with the Tea Party / conservative movement is their historical ignorance. The historical attitude to a large military is part of that.
bdunbar "the dumbest thing I've read all week"), I give you two thoughts on the American war machine. First, I give you you can go strangle yourself with that yellow ribbon. Written by a Marine sniper, it's a lengthy reflection on the current "all-volunteer" military. In the interests of full disclosure, I served, but in peacetime. Key points of the article:
- Many people who volunteer for the military really have few other choices. I personally could have avoided service, but only if I would go to a different college. Many of my small-town classmates had no real alternative.
- Veterans are, in some respects, no better or different that anybody else. I personally share the author's discomfort at being "thanked for my service" by some stranger shaking my hand.
- The current military is ideal for fighting long, smallish wars with unclear goals. It looks, in fact, a lot like the typical European colonial army of the mid 1800s.
Second, from the always-interesting blog Obsidian Wings, I give you a reminder of how unusual and "un-American" the current large-military / perpetual state of war is. In this post, the author reminds us that the Founding Fathers, and indeed most Americans up until the 1940s, were strongly opposed to a large standing military. After all, the First Congress, full of Revolutionary War vets and drafters of the Constitution, didn't authorize a US Navy and a did created a regular Army of a single company to guard artillery at West Point. They also constitutionally-limited military budgets to two years, because they wanted the each newly-elected House of Representatives to have to explicitly authorize the military.
Now, the days of relying on militia for defense are over, modern war being what it is - even the Swiss have regular forces. On the other hand, one of my many issues with the Tea Party / conservative movement is their historical ignorance. The historical attitude to a large military is part of that.
