More and more each Veterans Day we are exposed to the display of a warrior caste to be praised, glamorized and extolled as ultimate American patriots. Yet I’m reminded that for me and many other veterans, “warrior” does not describe our service.
I was drafted into the Army in 1962. My Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) was 914.10, an E-5 neuropsychiatric specialist. My active duty was served at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. There was no “warrior” in our military lexicon. We served on the hospital wards, in food service, in the motor pool. There were supply administrators, military police, chaplain’s assistants, infantry and many other MOS designations. There were draftees and regular Army personnel, no warriors in sight!
Today, everyone in uniform is perceived as a warrior, regardless of their MOS. Also included are veterans, the fallen, the wounded and those serving as reservists and in the National Guard. In addition, a monument to “past, present, and future warriors” was dedicated on October 30, 2013, at Fort Drum. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the old citizen soldier are nearly obsolete.
Becoming a warrior nation, a nation depending on a warrior class for its safety, has serious implications for the health of our democracy and our international relationships. The morph of “our soldier boys,” who fought in WWII into “warriors” and “wounded warriors” who fight in present wars, was not a movement of American democratic action. Citizens have never voted to become a warrior nation. During basic training we were told over and over, “the military is not a democracy. You don’t have a vote here.” The American military has engaged in a non-democratic process of subtle transformation toward becoming a warrior caste. It is difficult to trace the movement but there are some signposts.
During the Korean War, Army General Hamilton Howze wanted something that “showed strength and stealth and reflected a warrior ethos.” Hence, he began naming aircraft with the names of “revered Native tribes.” Some of these names include the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Apache, Blackhawks and Comanche.
Parenthetically, I find it disturbing that these tribal names suggest a warrior ethos embedded in Native American culture. It resurrects the myth of wild west movies and the games of good cowboys and warrior Indians we played as children. Might we say, “boys and warriors?”
The draft ended on January 27, 1973. One of the effects was a military comprised of only enlisted personnel. Free from the conscription of citizen soldiers, some senior officers began calling enlisted personnel “warriors” in the mid-’90s. It was an attempt to evoke connotations of individual heroism, valor, gallantry and honor for the modern soldier” (William Safire, NYT Magazine, 2007). These efforts seem to have been reinforced with a revision of the Soldiers’ Creed. The original included, “I will try to make the people of this nation proud of the service I represent, for I am an American Soldier. I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.” In stark contrast, the November 2003 New Soldiers’ Creed revised these words to read, “I am a Warrior, an expert and a professional… I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.”
It seems that the United States is reverting to a warrior strategy used by many collapsed ancient and historic empires. Ironically, warriors in literature have often been portrayed as tragic figures, unable to reconcile warrior roles with the ethics of citizenship. Since 2001 the U.S. has spent approximately $6.5 trillion on several wars while sustaining some 60,000 casualties. In Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere these wars have contributed directly or indirectly to an estimated 750,000 “other” deaths. Andrew J. Bacevich writes in Harper’s Magazine, “This is an egregious misuse of American military power and an equally egregious abuse of American soldiers.”
Robert Bateman writes in the Washington Post, “Warriors? We don’t need ‘em. We need… ‘America’s Army’ (to) actually reflected America. Although they can be great fighters, Americans have never been ‘warriors.’ Our nation was designed to avoid that possibility.”
He reminds us that democracy has no place for a warrior-based nation. Democracy does not accept class divides such as a privileged class of warriors. Democracy is the home for civilian citizens who may from time to time vote for a call to arms “to guard freedom and the American way of life.”
The strength in America’s world leadership is in being a model of democracy. Perhaps that may be our focus for future Veterans Days. Remember the history, the service and the unity of citizen soldiers. Pledge to urge our Congress to use the call to arms only in extreme circumstances. Urge them to be advocates for negotiations and cooperation among nations. Urge them to be leaders of a country that seeks to use United States resources, aid and hospitality for the welfare of the world’s struggling people.
Use future Veterans Days to seek an end to the felt need for a warrior class and to seek a peace that will lessen even the need for citizen soldiers. This could be a principle patriotic action for a healthy democracy.
(John Buttrick of Concord can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.)