Rules of Engagement:

There are a few ground rules that I need to present. This and future discussions are for things military. This discussion is for everyone. If I offend anyone or get some information wrong, please shoot me an email and I will work the issues and respond in kind.

Matters: Is the military a culture or is it just a different job?

In the last article we were introduced to military culture starting with the Creed and Song of each of the branches of the Armed Uniform Services; the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Coast Guard. There are two other uniformed services,the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corp and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corp,but they do not fall under the Department of Defense. In this and continuing articles we will discuss the glue that holds and defines the military as a culture and not just another job occupation.

Are the military occupations just different career paths that people choose? I think not. One frankly obvious reason is the nature and purpose of the military. In my last article I mention the oath that every service member( enlisted and commissioned officer) swears (or affirms) to. These oaths bind the men and women who swear to them not to a job, but to a way of life. The oaths are:

Oath of Enlistment

"I, Service member's name, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

National Guard Oath of Enlistment

"I,Service member's name, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the (State, Commonwealth, District, Territory) of,___, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of the (State, Commonwealth, District, Territory) of,___, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and law. So help me God."

Commissioned Officer Oath of Office

"I, Officer's name, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

Commissioned Officer of the National Guard Oath of Office

"I,Officer's name, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the (State, Commonwealth, District, Territory) of,___, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of the (State, Commonwealth, District, Territory) of,___, that I make this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the Office of, grade, in the Army/Air National Guard of the (State, Commonwealth, District, Territory) of,__, upon which I am about to enter, so help me God."

Combine these oaths with the Creeds and Songs of the last article, and I think we are all starting to get the picture. Military service members are a breed of people apart.

I really do not think that I need to explain the purpose of the military, that is pretty obvious. What needs a little more definition is the fact that since the military is an institution based upon its ability to deal with armed conflict in all forms and nature itself in the form of natural disasters, it is paramount that its members are always ready to perform (ready to get the job done). So being part of the military is not like an everyday job, it is a way of life. It was once asked of a Sergeant by a private after the sergeant had just got done issuing out the work details of the day " I do not understand why we have to do that like this, I want to do it another way, this is crazy, I thought this was a democracy. I want to talk about this." The sergeant replied "You're absolutely right private, in the United States of America it is a democracy, land of the free home of the brave. Here in the Army you have freedom too; freedom to shut up and do what the heck you're told, what you promised you would do when you signed your contract and took the oath!" Believe it or not, this short dialogue accurately describes how we live in the military.

To further help understand this thought I am providing a few interesting excerpts I found while researching for this article:

America's New Military Culture - Boston.com:

"It's natural for there to be a cultural gap between soldiers and civilians. And yet, according to Robert L. Goldich, a military historian and consultant, that gap is wider and deeper now than it has ever been before. In "American Military Culture from Colony to Empire," a paper in the summer issue of Daedalus , Goldich argues that America's changing strategic outlook has led, after several decades, to the creation of a separate military world -- a world which, in contrast to our increasingly pacifist and easygoing civilian society, is "flinty, harshly results oriented, and emotionally extreme." People in the two cultures live drastically different lives, and, increasingly, have different values."

Today's military is very different. The link between civilian and military culture is gone; instead, the military has a culture of its own, to which soldiers eagerly adapt. Today's military is an "all-volunteer force," or AVF, which means that no one's there who didn't choose to embrace military values. Those values are self-consciously different from the ones central to civilian life. Civil society is organized around the virtues of friendliness and tolerance; it's gender-neutral, with male aggressiveness kept to a minimum; it's cushy, comfortable, and consumerist; it fiercely defends the rights of individuals to express themselves. The military world is the opposite. It's authoritarian and group-oriented, tough, disciplined, aggressive, male-dominated, and physically arduous. In an excellent essay in Commentary magazine last year, Sam Jacobson, a Marine, described military culture as organized around values which civil society regards as "anachronisms": "love of glory, pugnacity, intrepidity, severity, order, discipline, deprivation, devotion, exertion, hardihood, risk, sharpness, precipitousness, contempt for life (whether one’s own or another’s), conscription, the blood tax, honor, and, above all, duty and self-forgetfulness."

The culture war within - February 2011 - Armed Forces Journal - Military Strategy:

Yet, the secret to the success of major social integration within the military is tried and true and really no secret at all:

• Establish clear policy guidance as to the expectations for all service members.
• Provide sufficient training on the policy to ensure the expectations are communicated and understood by everyone.
• Demand leaders at all levels take accountability and responsibility to foster inclusion and respect through their words, deeds and example.
• Punish those who don’t comply.

What this all means.

It all boils down to this. Service is a way of life. Service in the military is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are many who would argue the point about the reserve and National Guard forces, but if we read the oaths correctly, I do not see where it states that it only applies on the weekend (this is a topic that can be discussed for future articles). This "way of life" concept applies to all services; military and civilian. Law enforcement, emergency, federal employees, and other public servants perform their perspective duties as a way of life and not as just any other job, and we benefit from their sacrifice. The reason this concept is different is because in service, you are doing something underneath a belief or doctrine that is not based upon the sole purpose of revenue or personal gain, but (in most cases) for the greater good of your society.

Calling all local veterans!

Service members are a unique culture that are a critical part of American society; especially here in our community of Boundary county, Idaho. To continue my efforts in exploring this culture I would like start to introducing some of our local veterans in future articles. If there are any veterans that are interested or you know of any veterans that you would like to see introduced please send me an email at: sergeantj@newsbf.com

Please Send in Your Matters:
You Matter!

Please send me any military matters that you would like discussed and I'll try and get them in our pages. Also please send me any useful links that you want posted. Thanks. You can email me at: sergeantj@newsbf.com

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