Difficult truths and “The Long War”
Brian referenced Andrew Bacevich’s Washing Post column in a recent blog post about media coverage of the war in Afghanistan.
I was most interested in a different part of the column, where Bacevich talks about the effect of a professional standing military created after Vietnam:
For a time, the creation of this so-called all-volunteer force, only tenuously linked to American society, appeared to be a master stroke. Washington got superbly trained soldiers and Republicans and Democrats took turns putting them to work. The result, once the Cold War ended, was greater willingness to intervene abroad. As Americans followed news reports of U.S. troops going into action everywhere from the Persian Gulf to the Balkans, from the Caribbean to the Horn of Africa, they found little to complain about: The costs appeared negligible. Their role was simply to cheer.
This quote made me think of two things:
First, in my reporting at Fort Drum, I’m always struck by how separate and isolated members of the military feel from mainstream American life. Person after person tells me the military is an insulated subculture, one the American people rare see and don’t understand very well. Soldiers and their families do often feel they’re fighting alone.
Second, we likely wouldn’t still be in Afghanistan and Iraq if there were a draft, would we? Wouldn’t Americans demand an endpoint if their children were being conscripted rather than simply being asked to put a magnetic yellow ribbon on the back bumper of the family car?
Dave,
I’ve never been in favor of an all volunteer military and do believe we should go back to having a draft.
I did join the Navy back in the early 60’s and did so because I didn’t want to risk being drafted into the Army.
I did what many did back then. I joined to get it out of the way.
For the most part, I enjoyed my time in the Navy, learned a fair amount and was lucky enough to not be sent to Viet Nam.
I supported the war in Viet Nam until it became clear our government would not do what it would take to destroy the north.
I feel the same way about our current “wars.”
A draft would be a better cross sectional representation of the poulation.
I see that as the main benefit over an army made up soley of enlisted men and woman. It prevents one State, Town, Demographic, from taking the brunt of the load.
A draft would give a true picture of the cost of war and thus we would have less war.
I also joined the Navy to avoid the draft and Vietnam. I was opposed to the Vietnam War. I liked the idea of a professional, all-volunteer army. The last ten years has made me reconsider my position. If it’s worth going to war, it’s worth asking everyone to sacrifice.
mervel.. one would hope.
p.klein-
my brother-in-law tried that same tactic, he enlisted in the Coast Guard during the Vietnam War. Wouldn’t you know it he was on the first Coast Guard ship to ever be sent out of domestic waters.
They had many duties, one of which was assisting patient transport to the hospitol ships. I was 7 years old and I remember quite vividly the pictures he brought back with him of sailors hosing off the decks, covered entirely in blood.
pg, I didn’t enlist in the Navy to avoid Vietnam. When I joined, Vietnam was not on the radar.
Actually, if I had stayed in any longer than I did, joining the Navy might have been costly because I was a Corpsman and Corpsmen had very high casualties in Vietnam, due to them often being sent where the action was to provide medical treatment to the Marines.
I have often wonder if any of the guys I knew ended up going to Vietnam and getting killed.
Just remember, just about anytime you hear someone from the Navy is killed in Afghanistan or Iraq, it is probably a Corpsman detached to the Marines.
The good new is – Marines love Corpsmen. I can still walk up to a Marine, say something that would get anyone else in trouble, and get a smile from the Marine who responds, “You must have been a Corpsman.”
Didn’t mean to suggest you did, sorry. By tactic i meant choosing one’s own poison. …And i need to correct myself- not the first time C.G. was deployed out of domestic waters, but he was on the first cutter to leave for Vietnam.
Must feel good, proud, to be able to get that smile from a marine.
short story: I worked for the C.W.P. in Guam at the Naval Air Station- doing roof surveys on the buildings. While waiting for our escourt, a Naval officer in dress whites was stopped at the gate by two Marine M.P.’s
Don’t know what was said but during the exchange one M.P. cocked his shotgun and that Navy guy dropped flat on his belly in the dirt in compliance. Later when we got to go through with our escourt, i looked at the M.P. as i wen’t by, and such a sly grin ran accross his face right back at me. I felt i was in on something inside, special. Later i was told about the banter between the two branches.
The escort said the Navy considered the Marines grunts, while the Marines liked to kid back that all the Navy was good for was whenever they needed a “ride” somewhere..
Not so long ago, during the build-up to the war in Iraq liberals were pushing for a draft for exactly that reason; many thought (and still do) that our political leadership would think more carefully about sending youth to war if rich kids and Senator’s sons and daughters might die.
Unfortunately even with the draft the rich kids could avoid service. Remember that Dick Cheney when asked why he didn’t serve responded that he “had better things to do”. Many used influence to get safe stateside duty (think George W), repeated college deferments, etc.
I joined the Army because my draft number was coming up and I didn’t want to chance ending up in the infantry. for the last 2 years of my service I was on a levy to go to ‘Nam but the orders never came and I didn’t ask where they were.
All told though I think a 2-3 years of mandatory service to the country, whether in the military or in a CCC type program (which had military discipline aspects) would be a good thing for young people in general. It might instill more of a “we” attitude and less of the “me” attitude that seems to be dominant today.
JB: interesting isn’t it that George Bush and Dick Cheney and the Swift Boaters managed to smear John Kerry’s war record.
My uncle served in Viet Nam and was stop-lossed. I remember my grandmother raising holy hell with every elected official she could find to get him home. Then during the Iraq war I heard him say that the guys in this war knew what they were getting into when they signed up and they should quit complaining about stop-loss.
In the immortal words of the Clash, “you start wearing blue and brown, start working for the clampdown.”
Just one final note on the military.
My dad was in the Army/Air Force during WW II. Worked on Thunderbolts. Didn’t see him for the first few years of my life, until the war was over.
Then came Korea and he almost went away again. He was called up. I remember my mother and I seeing him off at the train station.
While on the train, he and some other Vets learned they shouldn’t have been called back and were sent home.
Others weren’t so lucky. I learned if they reached the camp/base they were headed to and were processed, they were back in the service. For those, like my dad, who hadn’t reached their destination, the mistake was acknowledged and they were sent back home.
How about a law that says only Congress can declare war……oh wait. Ok then, how about a law that says if a war is declared, taxes must immediately be raised to a level that supports the additional cost of the war.
@ JB. It wasn’t just republicans who used schemes to get out of Vietnam. Richard Blumenthal joined the Marine Reserves, Joe Biden used 5 deferments to avoid the draft, Christopher J. Dodd served in the National Guard after getting out of college in the 1970’s… I can go tit for tat with you about military service, and going to college to avoid the military.
Israeli citizens all serve a mandatory time in the military. Always impressed me.
PNelba- another new rule perhaps- evryone serves -no exceptions, one half of the time stateside, and the other half abroad- or full time incarcerated…. which reminds me of a corollary- all prisoners must work on chain gangs, construction crews, or serve in the army-if they’ll have ’em. catch 22.