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<a href="http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette">www.mca-marines.org/gazette</a> 71 M a r i n e C o r p s G a z e t t e • M a y 2 0 0 9 that President Barack Obama, with no military experience, has nominated only 2 veterans for his 15-member cabinet— the fewest since Herbert Hoover.5 By contrast, John F. Kennedy, with a Navy and Marine Corps medal for heroism in World War II (WWII), had 9 in his 11-member cabinet.6 In the 1970s, 74 percent of Congress had prior military serv- ice. By 1991, it was 52 percent and, today, 23 percent—the lowest level since before WWII.7 These figures reflect a disturbing national pattern. As budgetary pressures shrink future forces, the proportion that has served will continue to decline and the chasm widen. This cultural divide, then, is the real crisis. And the reservist, with one foot in each world, is uniquely postured to bridge this gap. But first, as always, we must turn to history and its lessons—primary among them that this bifurcation is as ar- tificial as it is recent. Today we praise classical Greece for its philosophy, art, and democracy. Yet Athenians knew Socrates, the father of philosophy, for his bravery on the battlefield and Xenophon, author of the epic masterpiece Anabasis, for his brilliance in leading 10,000 surrounded and outnumbered Greeks on an epic march out of Persia (sound familiar, 1st Marine Divi- sion?).8 Aeschylus, antiquity’s greatest tragedian, chose what mattered most when he wrote his own epitaph: “This grave- stone covers Aeschylus . . . . The field of Marathon will speak of his bravery and so will the long-haired [Persians] who learned it well.” Fast forward 2,000 years. Lord Byron, romantic poet, died fighting for Greek liberty against the Turks. T.E. Lawrence was an archaeologist before he was “of Arabia.” And Win- ston Churchill, a product of the Royal Military Academy, fought dervishes on the Nile, won the Nobel Prize in litera- ture, and was the greatest statesman of his time. This inte- gration of action and thought was not unique to Western civilization. Under Bushido, the 16th century Japanese code of the warrior, to focus on the martial arts only was to be a “samurai of little worth.”9 Expected to excel in swordsman- ship, calligraphy, and poetry, a samurai’s most treasured mode of expression was Cha-no-yu, the tea ceremony. In our own time, the loss of this citizen-soldier ideal has been underway for generations. WWI turned warriors into lambs for the slaughter and officers into bureaucrats. The draft meant dilution, as the profession of arms ceased to be a profession, and war became a foreign problem. After Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, a Gallup Poll found 96 per- cent of Americans opposed “joining the European war”—77 percent even if France and England were lost.10 Following Vietnam, and despite the First Amendment, recruiters were kicked off campuses, the military dropped in social cachet, and the idea of a promising person going off for a stint in the Service became a quaint novelty—all against the backdrop of a steady aggrandizement of self at the expense of society. Of course, civilian society recognizes there are things worth defending other than self. But, as during Rome’s declining centuries, the idea of the warrior as that defender has become an antiquated concept. And the warrior’s ideals, like the war- riors themselves, have been forced to the margins as if they were antique refinements, like knowing classical languages. But far from obsolete, our most cherished ideal of honor—the Greeks called it arête, but we don’t have to say it in Greek for the concept to sound out of place in contem- porary society—is actually a force multiplier. If you decide in advance to act honorably, then when the moment arises, you know what to do without hesitation. It is a form of mental conditioning—just as Semper Fidelis is not merely a phrase but, like Bushido, a way of life. In the Marine Corps, we rehearse everything until the cor- rect response becomes reflexive. It’s all about developing in- dividual muscle memory. Codes of conduct and honor are society’s version of the same conditioning—only in this case, it’s developing societal muscle memory. Warrior codes—es- pecially those from the past that resonate subconsciously— guide us in this collective training, offering the answer to the question, “Who will guard the guardians?”11 We all will to- gether. “What is honored in a country,” Plato noted, “will be cultivated there.”12 The ‘New’ Solution I admit that going through doors in Baghdad and Kabul clears the head in a way I enjoy. But for me, as for every Ma- rine I have ever met, the physical excitement of having oth- ers trust me enough to move when I say so isn’t the attraction. It’s the opportunity to make a difference. This is part of the message we must carry across the divide to those Members of U.S. Reserve forces can fill an important role in educating government officials who have not served in the military. (Photo courtesy of the author.)
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