The Military’s Increasing Politicization
Focusing on diversity pushes competency to the side.
This testimony was delivered during a hearing of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs on January 11, 2024.
Chairman Grothman, Ranking Member Garcia, members of this subcommittee, and my fellow panelists.
Initial Entry Training in the U.S. Army is meant to melt away the effects of civilian life, and to forge Americans into soldiers ready to devote their lives to the mass application of violence on behalf of American interests. Initial Entry Training must sweat and bleed the individual who reported for duty, because the Army knows the life of American citizens, bred in individualism and liberalism, is not suited for an easy transition to military service. Policymakers would do well to acknowledge this civil-military distinction.
The American military is a professional fighting force built on competencies and values not commonly found in civil society. Thankfully so, for we do not raise our children under the presumption of a violent life, and most do not even consider joining the military.
Because the stakes of military operations are so high, the military must define itself by a commitment to the professional factors that make servicemembers and units more effective. Even though the years of all-out war are beyond our memory, the perils of an uncertain future make the stakes of military policy unquestionably high.
https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-militarys-increasing-politicization/
