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The ancient Greeks would seem to have nothing to do 'vith whether the U.S. military should embrace nontradi- donal roles as it looks to a future without an obvious major threat. But Aristotle had a very rigorous approach to defining something—whether it was the soul, friendship, or Politics—that continually asked what the true end of the thing under consideration was.
The true purpose of the military is combat specifically, defeating an enemy. Because it necessarily risks losing one’s own life, combat is an especially exacting Activity. Those who have been in it say that the stress has no equal. Besides the personal risks, there also is the fate °f the nation. The loss of
U.S. NAVY (PH1 R- SCOGGIN)
Humanitarian assistance and law enforcement are honorable missions, but the true purpose of the military is and must remain combat. The armed forces’ budget, equipment, and training—here, Marines head for the beach during Ocean Venture 93—must be driven by combat realities if the U.S. military is to maintain its edge and effectiveness.
military still will wear uniforms, march, and look like a force to be reckoned with, but the edge honed by war s realities will be lost. The United States’ ability to successfully project power from ship to shore or to destroy an enemy’s political leadership to avoid a bloodier conflict will be diminished. Ironically, it is the training for these eventualities that makes our military as proficient as it is at providing humanitarian and disaster relief. Because the military is so well trained for combat, it easily is able to perform such difficult but less demanding tasks as helping hurricane victims and organizing the logistics necessary to look after large numbers of refugees.
If, in their desire to prevent more budget reductions, our armed forces change their role from combatant to noncombatant, the services gradually will turn into—and be seen by the public as—merely another federal agency.
This will shatter the repu-
By Seth Cropsey
a battle can mean the loss °f a people’s wealth, a nation's independence, or a civilization’s future.
In other words, the stakes are extremely high—both for the indi- v>duals who make up an armed force and for the nation that fields it. These stakes are reflected in the Preparations for combat: expensive redundancy that Would not be tolerated anywhere else is expected, so are the often brutal Gaining conditions and the Unique standards of obedience, discipline, and leadership that are not found in civilian society.
If the military changes
its purpose and substitutes for its role as a combatant some less demanding activity, it will transform the organization. Providing humanitarian assistance, helping build needed improvements in a nation’s infrastructure, supporting law enforcement officials in their important work, and ministering to the victims of disaster are good, honorable activities that are worthy goals for our military—both at home and abroad. Such missions deserve support up to but not beyond a very clear line. This line is crossed when the military’s training and thus its requests for equipment and money are driven by noncombat missions.
The moment such missions become the military’s pur- pose—or even its partial aim—the dangers and stress of combat will cease to guide our armed forces training. The
tation the military has earned since World War II as a polished, spirited, efficient instrument that deserves public support. The Defense Department will lose its seemingly effortless ability to help those stricken by disaster, as well as its more important ability to defend the United States in a world that promises a dangerous future.
Some may call the exchange of real combat capability for budget dollars a necessary trade-off required to safeguard assets that could be resuscitated in a national emergency. I would call it a sell-out. A larger military that is uncertain about its fundamental purpose will be harder to reconstitute as an effective fighting force than a smaller one that knows exactly why it exists and what it is supposed to do. It’s too bad that George Marshall is no longer around to remind us of this fact. It was uppermost in his mind as he trained the Army in the years just before World War II, and the success ot U.S. forces bears witness to his understanding.
There is no lack of other challenges for the military today. Unlike the period between the world wars, when Western militaries simply were neglected, undermanned, and underequipped, the current peace has brought with it the peculiar but dangerous notion that the armed forces are the proper testing ground for societal change. It is a
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___________________ although it is that, too. Rather, these experiments are a result of democracy carried to its extremes. This excess-^ like the casting about for nontradi" tional roles—is encouraged by the apparent international lull.
Equally ominous to combat effectiveness is the now dropping quality of recruits that was noted by the Pentagon in late May of this year. Secretary Les Aspin told the 1993 graduating class at the Air Force Academy that in 1991 the percentage of new recruits with high school diplomas had fallen from 97% to 94%. Scores on enlistment tests also have registered a small decrease.
In addition, senior Defense Department officials' are placing enormous emphasis on readiness—almost certainly at the cost of the ability to build future weapon systems. This is not necessarily bad. But will research money be sacrificed along with the money to build its products? The Navy already is looking at decreasing the portion of its annual budget allocated to research and development by almost one-fifth—from 11% to 9%- And if—as was the case in England between the world wars—the munitions manufacturers are whittled down to the bone, the prospects for fielding the products of any research breakthroughs diminish.
The movement toward nontradi' tional roles is but a part of the unseriousness that is touching the military today, both as a result of its own exertions as well as those of politicians and civilian analysts. It should not be seen as an isolated matter. The sum of this unseriousness is to disregard some ancient wisdom—specifically’ Sun Tzu’s warning to prepare far peace in wartime as one prepares for war during peace. We should be sharpening the knife now, not blunting it.
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Mr. Cropsey was Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy from 1984 to 1989. He is director of the Asian Studies Center of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and a lieutenant commander (select) in the Naval Reserve.