Why do people join the military? Everybody knows the answer–to serve their country! It’s a selfless act of patriotism!
Well, that’s not exactly accurate. As Frank Bettger wrote in his sales classic, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling, people have two reasons for most things–the reason they will tell you, and the real reason. I have had this conversation more than a few times with active duty personnel and veterans:
Me: Why did you join the _________?
Other: I wanted to serve my country.
Me: I’m a veteran. What’s the real reason?
Other: (something completely different)
Why people join the military
In 2006, when I was preparing to separate from the Navy, I attended a mandatory course called, “Transition Assistance Program.” During this course, I chatted with a military recruiter also preparing to separate, and he summarized for me the appeals that actually get people to sign on the dotted line:
- Air Force – misperception that it is an elite branch where everyone is a pilot
- Army – don’t know what else to do
- Navy or Coast Guard – technical training (this was true for me)
- Marines – warrior image
Don’t shoot the messenger! I’m sure some people also join for patriotic reasons. Some people. Somewhere. I’m not sure I met any of them during six years on active duty, but they must exist.
The unspoken common element is the “economic draft.” The vast majority of people who join the military have some sort of need that has nothing to do with “service.” Among my peer group of junior officers, paying for college was the usual impetus.
Why this matters
Federal politicians, few of whom are veterans, and their media accomplices love to bloviate about “supporting the troops.” This is usually an attack on opponents who object to starting or continuing a war. The troops, we are told, know why they are fighting, and it is disrespectful to them not to continue funding the mission/war. Those who will not “support the troops” are unpatriotic cowards.
If I gave you a shiny new weapon before I tossed you into a cage of lions, would anybody say that I “support” you? That is essentially what politicians do to military members, who generally are naive kids when they sign on that dotted line.
The George W. Bush administration and its surrogates made heavy use of this tactic during my time in the military, but they did not invent it. Democrats employed it against Congressman Abraham Lincoln when he spoke out in 1846 in opposition to “Polk’s War” against Mexico. I would bet money that similar arguments played out in imperial Rome.
Happy Veterans Day 2017
I hope one day society will recognize the bankrupt rhetoric for what it is and realize that “supporting the troops” means, first and foremost, not sending them to participate in foreign conflicts that do nothing to protect our loved ones.
Well done Dave. Good while highly unpopular questions usually lead the people to a truth. Last month being in the South Korea, I’ve met the US Navy petty officer who was aboard the USS McCain which collided with civilian vessel. A guy was very smart and nice and his military occupation would be the great deal for his secondary civilian career (electronics) but he had been phisically injured during the collision which he had not been able neither to prevent nor escape. Navy of course treated his wounds but in “Navy style” – sewed the scars on the skin and left untouched the scars inside his soul. This is surface Navy, a community which is not in the battle on everyday basis, like Army or Marines, but is seems to me that there would be the same – some hospitality to bleeding wounds that can be seen and total oblivion of the wounds inside. The wounds that would hurt for decades…
Military is unfair.