why is it dangerous to have a peacetime army?

Now, consider the following statement by former U.S. soldier Kayla Williams in an op-ed in last Fridays Guardian: A decade ago, I took part of the initial invasion of Iraq. Thomas Jefferson not only included standing armies in the Declaration of Independence as a component of British tyranny, he likewise despairingly described them elsewhere: There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors that those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot but in well-defined cases. By the Numbers: How Dangerous Is It to Be a Cop? Thats the type of aggression I want from my commanders, Brig. Suppose a man alledges that he is conscientiously scrupulous of bearing Arms. This incoherent books crippling weaknesses are an absence of acknowledgement that some generals serve the country pretty well, and apparent obliviousness of the political dimension, Hastings fumed. "A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty," he argued. Soldiers kill. Why Oppose Standing Armies? They opposed not only a regular standing army, but also a federalized militia that would serve the same function. Previous article by Laurence M. Vance: Ron Paul, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, The Anti-Federalists: Selected Writings and Speeches, War, Christianity, and the State: Essays on the Follies of Christian Militarism, War, Empire, and the Military: Essays on the Follies of War and U.S. Foreign Policy, King James, His Bible, and Its Translators, CNN Host Shockingly Blasts Teachers Union Boss Over School Closure Lies, Fox Newss Existential Crisis After Tucker Carlsons Firing and Audience Flees, with Buck Sexton, ABC News Admits It Censored RFK Jr. Interview For False Claims About Covid-19 Vaccines, Documenting the Greatest Crime in History, New Lyme Disease mRNA Vaccines Being Developed for Humans, How Not to Solve the Boys Wanting to Use the Girls Restroom Conundrum, The Gnostic Parasite I James Lindsay New Discourses, Nations Ditch Dollars Thats The Real Debt Ceiling. In "Raid or Trade? Simon Akam, The Changing of the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11 (Scribe, 2021). The tribal dynamics of Iraqi society, not to mention those sub-national identities that cut across them in sectarian terms, soon rose to the surface, catching the British Army off-guard. Instead, we believe the most critical prescriptions involve changing parts of the Armys culture those elements of the Armys self-identity that are problematic, outdated, or both. Last accessed 6 May, 2011. No event crystallized colonists antagonism towards the British army more clearly than what became known as the Boston Massacre. Instead, the support and defense of such regimes has always been considered to be part and parcel of working with our partners and allies in the defense of national security. As Williams points out in her op-ed, the soldiers job is to obey the orders of his president, not determine the rightness of them or their constitutionality. Some of the ritualism entails endless boozing, a crucial lubricant that keeps the system running, Akam notes, involving endless rounds of drinking games. He paints an unflattering picture of a sub-culture where officers drink cold champagne and, presumably, soldiers only drink warm beer. In 2019, U.S. military expenditure increased by almost 5.3% to $732 billion. It could take 20 years with some civilian companies to accrue that much time off. Education is very expensive, and $100,000 is actually a very conservative estimate for a four-year degree. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. That event provided all the proof the colonists needed of the true nature of the redcoats mission in the colonies. The Army simply cannot continue to tolerate such excessive levels of bureaucracy and cumbersome industrial-age processes at the same time it trumpets agility and adaptability as essential attributes necessary to the warfighting force. They should seek input from their subordinates to better understand the demands that promote unethical reporting and decision-making across the force. An ambitious man who may have the army at his devotion, may step up into the throne, and seize upon absolute power. The immense costs necessary to raise and maintain a standing army (moneys required for pay, uniforms, rations, weapons, pensions, and so forth) would burden the populace with an immense and crippling tax burden that would require the government to confiscate more and more of the citizenrys wealth in order to meet those massive expenses. He spent a brief spell in the Scots Dragoon Guards while on a gap year commission, an internship open to young men and women to give them a taste of military life. "Fear and panic become just as dangerous as the pathogen itself" Why can't the Army teach Infantry NCOs to actually lead instead of just torturing us? The Constitution. The Army, which imposes most of these requirements, is thus profoundly violating some of its own core values especially honor and integrity. Bill.). 13. A brutally cold battle in Russia during the French invasion. As the army had not deployed in large formations in some time, this was to be expected, though it inevitably generated leadership and organizational challenges that Akam retells with considerable detail. The soldiery, who are generally composed of the dregs of the people, when disbanded, or unfit for military service, being equally unfit for any other employment, become extremely burthensome. The problem of the scientist's responsibility for war and peace has been analysed by R.W. Along with the British decision to pull out amid a public outcry at home, it also had much to do with their interpretation of the nature and character of the conflict in Iraq and the threats they faced. I defy them to produce an instance in any country, in the Old or New World, where they have not finally done away the liberties of the people. Everybodys always talking about why you should join the military, so I decided to give you five reasons not to join the military. British military doctrine subsequently attempted to rebrand retreat from the city of Basra as overwatch, but it could not fully obfuscate the damage. The Quartering Act, which required colonists to provide housing and provisions for troops in their own buildings, was another obnoxious symbol of the corrupting power represented by the army. Photographs of the Historic American Buildings Survey: Georgia, Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 3.0 License. If we annex the Philippines, we shall have to conquer the Filipinos by force of arms, and thereby deny to them what we claim to ourselves the right to self-government. The military gives you 30 days of paid vacation every year starting with your first year. The idea that peacetime corrodes and ossifies armies, making them less combat effective, is a central tenet of Simon Akam's new book, The Changing of the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11, though what also comes across loud and clear is the debilitating effects of tribalism on what some have referred to as "the world's best little army.". The soldiers job, in his mind, is simply to obey the president and carry out his orders. Please, enable JavaScript and reload the page to enjoy our modern features. Fitness expert Stew Smith demonstrates some medicine ball workouts. In June of 1787, James Madison addressed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on the dangers of a permanent army. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images. Now that is the bad news -- you won't be really old when you retire from the military. Andrew Kern is the author ofThe Myth of the Social Contract: Refuting Common Arguments for Government Authority, and he has written on libertarianism, anarchism, and private alternatives to state authority. But I presume it would be useless, to enter into a laboured argument, to prove to the people of America, a position, which has so long and so generally been received by them as a kind of axiom. There are several different kinds of studying methods when it comes to preparing for the Navy-Wide Advancement Exam. This kind of defence is attended with two advantages superior to any others; first, when it is necessary to embody an army, they at once form a band of soldiers, whose interests are uniformly the same with those of the whole community, and in whose safety they see involved every thing that is dear to themselves: secondly, if one army is cut off, another may be immediately raised already trained for military service. Such sentiments may be understandable during wartime, though they inevitably have harmful long-term consequences. Instead of the U.S. military defending our freedoms, the military has been at once the worlds policeman, fireman, social worker, bully, and busybody. The cornerstone of the Army as a profession rests upon the uncompromising ethical standards and integrity of its members. In March 1770, British regulars fired into a crowd of civilians, killing five. Shaw was conscious of the convoluted command arrangements he was to face, writes Akam, and so he used his personal contacts to secure a meeting with Nigel Sheinwald, Tony Blairs foreign policy chief at Number 10 Downing Street. He draws a caricature sketch of a regiment, without saying much in particular about the militaristic bonds and sense of belonging that keep the system together. What assurances have they that either their taxes will not be exacted but in the greatest emergencies, and then sparingly, or that standing armies will be raised and supported for the very plausible purpose only of cantoning them upon their frontiers? Learn about the benefits of serving your country, paying for school, military career paths, and more: sign up now and hear from a recruiter near you. "The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. When Maj. Gen. Jonathan Shaw, the Parachute Regiment officer who had previously led the United Kingdoms special forces, found himself taking over command from Maj. Gen. Richard Shirreff in 2007, he was well attuned to the complexity of the security situation. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. Yet, on a training exercise in a phony war, it was applauded by his superiors and quickly assumed its place among his regiments tribal myths. 10 reasons US military strength remains essential | The Hill Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. Would not a well regulated militia, duly trained to discipline, afford ample security? DDT and Silent Spring: Fifty years after - JMVH Violence against the troops escalated and reached a strategic tipping point in 2007. The Changing of the Guard offers us some rich ethnographic insights into this world. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people. The president never secured a congressional declaration of war against Iraq, and every soldier, including Williams, knew that. As militia they may be subjected to fines to any amount, levied in a military manner; they may be subjected to corporal punishments of the most disgraceful and humiliating kind; and to death itself, by the sentence of a court martial. Since I have already explored at length the opinions of Brutus on this subject in a previous article (Brutus on the Evils of Standing Armies), I only present here something he said in his ninth essay on this subject: That standing armies are dangerous to the liberties of a people was proved in my last number If it was necessary, the truth of the position might be confirmed by the history of almost every nation in the world. Curiously, the British believed it was more akin to Palermo than Beirut organised crime rather than the al-Qaeda inspired violence in Iraqs central belt, according to Akam. Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. To sign up for Barno and Bensahels Strategic Outpost newsletter, where you can track their articles as well as their public events,click here. Warfare is inherently dangerous, and especially so on land. It is sometimes difficult to appreciate how radical change can only really come from catastrophic failures as well as glittering successes, a point well made by John Nagl in his pioneering study of British operations in Malaya and American intervention in Vietnam. Newspapers editorialized after the American Revolution against standing armies, referring to them as that great support of tyrants and as a manifest danger to public liberty. This is because, as Lew Rockwell has well said, America was born in love of liberty and opposition to a standing army. Keep in mind, after all, that the Constitution requires the president to secure a declaration of war from Congress as a prerequisite to waging war. Osvaldo Fuentes). Standing Armies - LewRockwell The Roman army was the largest fighting force in the ancient world. A study on anticipating risk showed that expecting a win is associated with an increase in brain activity in dopamine . You will advert to the dangerous and oppressive consequences, that may ensue from the introduction of standing armies in times of peace; those baneful engines of ambition, against which free nations have always guarded with the greatest degree of caution. The beliefs that grew organically from their experiences with the British also help explain Madisons passionate anti-military rhetoric (he would later refer to the establishment of a standing army under the new Constitution as a calamity, albeit an inevitable one); together, they cast a long shadow over the debates surrounding the kind of military the new nation would provide for itself. Its dense and ever-growing thickets of regulations, rules, and processes cripple innovative ideas, retard creative thought, and slow decision-making to a snail-like pace, especially within the institutional Army. The British Crown borrowed massively to finance the conflict (the war doubled British debt, and by the late 1760s, fully half of British tax pokiesaustralian.com revenue went solely to pay the interest on those liabilities); in an effort to boost its revenues, Parliament began to pursue other sources of income in the colonies more aggressively. Army Clause | The Heritage Guide to the Constitution He has advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on Fox News Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitanos show Freedom Watch. The Fear of Standing Armies is the Root of the Second Amendment Yet the Army's overweening approach to safety has created a widespread culture of near-total risk aversion when troops are not in combat. Trade with the Indians, especially the fur trade, was profitable. Madisons use of the imagery of slavery points to the multiple meanings of that term in the 18th century. Document 23. Both also serve as Nonresident Senior Fellows at the Atlantic Council. There is but one answer to these questions. Thats because people dont want to confront what is a very discomforting thought: that a tyrannical regime uses its standing army to carry out and enforce its tyranny. Osvaldo Fuentes), Signing up for this newsletter means you agree to our data policy, 2020 deal between the United States and the Taliban, Mad Mitchs Tribal Law: Aden and the End of Empire, Agents of Influence: Britains Secret Intelligence War Against the IRA, U.S. Army (Photo by Spc. British General Thomas Gage imposed "martial law" on the inhabitants of Boston by means of a "standing army"April 19, 1775. Among the works which have focused their interest on Nobel's peace ideas can be cited Robert Chaplen, "Alfred Nobel. Lyndon Johnsons Role in the Kennedy Assassination, Destroying the Switzerland of Central America, Obamas Wasted, Deadly, and Destructive Presidency, The Torture and Execution of Kiki Camarena, What the CIA Is Hiding in the JFK Assassination, Splinter the CIA into a Thousand Pieces and Scatter It to the Winds. That legislation further aggravated colonists hostility towards the British Army. And these moves need to begin now, because they will undoubtedly make todays Army stronger as well. They need to mentor the services rising stars to invest in and value educational and broadening pursuits and, even more importantly, ensure that promotion boards recognize, incentivize, and reward these choices as vital contributions to the future of the service. No one seems to be arguing against an . Soldiering is unique, Akam informs us. Sudan conflict: why is there fighting and what is at stake in the They have none. Most of the disincentives for war disappeared. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. How Military Spending Affects the Economy - Investopedia We cannot annex the Philippines without a large increase in our standing army. The initiative of junior leaders is also being threatened by technology that increasingly enables senior leaders to micromanage even small unit actions, from peacetime gunnery qualifications to combat assaults on enemy compounds. Standing armies, after all, often do not only practice defense. Sudanese refugees have fled the recent fighting to the county's neighbours, including thousands who have crossed into Chad. Armies at war kill people and destroy things, and their leaders must master that chaotic and risky business in peacetime. More important, the English recognized the advantage of being on friendly terms with the Indians. No one wants privates or lieutenants to argue with their commanders about how to carry out a night attack or to debate orders during a firefight. The soldier has convinced himself that carrying out the presidents orders is equivalent to supporting and defending the Constitution. Unlike almost any other career, it is possible to spend a working lifetime as a soldier without ever doing the job for real. Intriguingly, Akam moves through his opening chapters painting a picture of a peacetime army busily preparing to refight its last war. Foreign military bases and the stationing of troops abroad are for offensive military actions, not defensive ones. The soldier will do what the president orders him to do. 1. By Lt. Gen. Antonio Aguto Jr. September 8, 2021. The militia of Pennsylvania may be marched to New England or Virginia to quell an insurrection occasioned by the most galling oppression, and aided by the standing army, they will no doubt be successful in subduing their liberty and independency. As a preview for Strategic Outpost readers, we offer the six most important recommendations for changing Army culture that will appear in our report: Warfare is inherently dangerous, and especially so on land. 2. The whole episode would remain hidden from public view until two enterprising defense correspondents, Deborah Haynes and Michael Evans, at The Times newspaper revealed extensive details a few months later. He draws on oral testimonies to describe and explain how British representatives secured an orderly withdrawal from the city of Basra and the consequences of their Faustian pact or accommodation with the Jaish al Mahdi. Williams mindset reflects perfectly the military mindset the mindset of standing armies. Military Leadership - United States Army Brutus, no. But, within three years of this victory in regular war, the British Army was fighting blind, with no plan from above, a lack of cohesion, and a complete misunderstanding of the dynamics of the irregular war in which they now found themselves. 3. Soldiers and their officers will not only be required to close with and kill the enemy but also place their deployments and actions in a broader social, political, and cultural context while appreciating the truism that the enemy also gets a vote. Smoking, yelling, and torturing dudes who signed up to fight and possibly die for their country and comrades is not leadership. Who shall obey these orders? This is why labor leader Samuel Gompers, a member of the Anti-Imperialist League, formed in 1898 in the midst of the Spanish-American War, could say: I propose stating as succinctly as possible the grounds of our opposition to the so-called policy of imperialism and expansion. Who shall obey these orders? Akam pulls the curtain back further on the secret deals between British intelligence and the militants in Iraq. The senior British officer was proud to witness one of his non-commissioned officers destroying so many of the enemys tanks. Yes, Im referring to the troops, the people that so many Americans have come to idolize and praise almost as if they were a big brother within their families. Why is the United States so dangerous? - Quora A large standing army is repugnant to republican institutions and a menace to the liberty of our own people. Last accessed 6 May, 2011. Sean Ring: Truth Teller, Freedom Fighter and Why You Should Follow Him. The means of defense against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. To right this balance, the Army should reenergize the concept of power down, pioneered by Lt. Gen. Walter Ulmer in the 1980s. Consider why our American ancestors opposed a standing army for our nation: James Madison: A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. GOD has so separated us by an extensive ocean from the rest of mankind, he hath so liberally endowed us with privileges, and so abundantly taught us to esteem them precious, it would be impossible, while we retain our integrity and advert to first principles, for any nation whatever to subdue us. Instead, readers are left with an impression of an institution where long-term peace has rusted much of what is going on.. Armies are tribal systems too and none more so than the British Army. Many did not. Senior leaders need to seek feedback from their subordinates to help identify the worst of these practices and enact common sense approaches that treat soldiers like the professionals that they are. Imagine how bad you would feel accepting the military's world-class health care and not paying a dime for it. In June of 1787, James Madison addressed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on the dangers of a permanent army. More interestingly, the average citizens incentives change. Open disagreement and divergent views tend to be deeply discouraged within the Army, ranging all the way from its smallest units to the highest levels of the Army staff. He founded The Principled Libertarianwebsitein 2017 with the goal of spreading the ideas of liberty and helping to define what it means to be free. Many colonists held the sentiment that the redcoats stationed in the colonies existed not to protect them but to enforce the kings detestable policies at bayonet-point. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people. That Madison, one of the most vocal proponents of a strong centralized governmentan author of the Federalist papers and the architect of the Constitutioncould evince such strongly negative feelings against a standing army highlights the substantial differences in thinking about national security in America between the 18th century and the 21st. There are over 700 U.S. military bases on foreign soil. The reasons for invading Iraq seemed disingenuous, at best. The advocates at the present day, for a standing army in the New Congress pretend it is necessary for the respectability of government. The Use and Abuse of Military Force - Brookings

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why is it dangerous to have a peacetime army?

why is it dangerous to have a peacetime army?