The case of the general in charge of the US nuclear arsenal who spent his time in Moscow drinking and chasing whores (who, it is thought, might well have been planted by Putin’s goons) points up a little discussed problem with the top military brass. This comes on top of a case of corruption in naval procurement and the failure to put a stop to rape and physical abuse in many branches of the military (Obama has quite rightly taken away the right of senior officers to override legally arrived-at judgments on rapists and others in the forces).
The US military now spends more than all the other countries in the world put together, but nowadays cannot win a war (I will give them the first Gulf War).
The unhealthy attitude of Americans to their armed forces is troublesome. Congressmen, some of whom are supporters of the military-industrial complex, will vote any sum to keep the war machine grinding on. But ask them to put up money for healthcare for disabled soldiers and sailors and they bow out of the conversation. What is just as important is the fawning deference shown by politicians to senior officers, few if any of whom are held accountable for bad leadership and wartime incompetence. A groundswell of concern is beginning to emerge among the public about the capabilities of the top military.
Epicurus was no supporter of armed conflict, but I suspect he would see the benefit of reintroducing the draft, especially since recruitment has become more difficult. Drafting the kiddies would make the mass of the population sit up, take note, and demand accountability. About time. It would also make Presidents more wary of going to war at all.
(The writer served his country as a conscript gunner and came out the better for it. Conscription has little military benefit, but it instills discipline and sense of purpose).
“Epicurus was no supporter of armed conflict.”
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True but Epicurus spent his entire life in a culture that was shaped by and permeated with the armed conflict of the endless internecine Greek wars. About a hundred year’s after Epicurus died, Rome’s military machine finally defeated the Greeks.
From at least the 4th C. BCE in the Mediterranean, this shift toward naked military dictatorship forced men like Epicurus into the Garden for serious conversations. Policy venues like the agora or the Roman senate were co-opted by the war-makers.
To me, the wonderfully just and ironic historical outcome is that Epicurus’ ideas triumphed over the centuries. So the draft, a reflection of shared responsibility in a democracy (such as it is), is exactly what Epicurus would have understood, it seems to me.
I like the phrase “a reflection of shared responsibility in a democracy”. So much of modern life centers around avoiding shared responsibilty, as in tax avoidance.
But let’s not ignore my comment on military competency. It was a dire mistake, taken by basically ignorant people, to invade Iraq and Afghanistan in the manner adopted. The military had no idea about the culture or history of the countries they were “visiting” ,and were not trained or competent to change the local way of thinking.
The American public is war weary, but it has yet to demand changes in the military, which needs to shed its lumbering , old fashioned tactics, and get smaller and smarter.