There is no deed more somber a government can undertake than one of military action. Unleashing the tools of warfare on another people yields the very worst that humanity has to offer and leaves in its wake a shattered nation, a conquered people, and generations of despair. History often portrays wars of the past in heroic terms or romantic terms while discarding the horrors that war brings. And from a distance of hundreds or thousands of years, what we remember about these conflicts is the results of their outcomes; the “taming” of humanity into civilizations, the consolidation of geography and resources, the spread of religious ideologies. In today’s world of instant communications, we know all too well the true face of warfare, and it is anything but romantic. But depending on ones perspective, the resulting consequences of warfare can be seen in either a positive or a negative light. And depending upon ones cultural traditions, the horrors brought with warfare may be forgiven or taken forward through the generations in an unending feud for vengeance.

Because wars exist, and because wars will continue to be fought for the foreseeable future, nations maintain a military force for both protection and offensive movements. In this area, the United States of America has achieved what no other nation before it has, namely, a global military force that is second to none in terms of mobility, technology, and ability. Taken as a whole, our men and women in uniform are unmatched by any other military in the world, especially when given a winnable mission, the tools to win it, and the authority to control the action on the ground. This praise is not to be misunderstood as a wholesale endorsement of the American military apparatus though, for there is much about the way our military is used and run that can and should be improved upon. Even while the individual men and women who make up our (for the present) all-voluntary force can be commended for their professionalism as a whole, the civilians who are charged with funding the military and deciding its missions consistently foul things up. And the bureaucracy that encumbers the efficacy of the military’s duties is about as efficient and accountable as a comatose accident victim. The problems of both the civilians who guide military policy (also known as politicians and their corporate benefactors) and the bureaucrats in and out of uniform who keep the beast moving may not be easy to solve, but they are easy to identify.

Accountability Accountability in the military is a multi-pronged problem. First, we need to have greater financial accountability of the military’s expenditures, for it has been documented far too many times that the military is completely irresponsible with the tax dollars that are appropriated for “defense.” Secondly, we need to have greater practical accountability for the actions of the troops in the field. At issue, specifically, is who takes responsibility for the planning and execution of military events, and what should be expected to be in place before any military action is initiated. Third, we need greater accountability in the lower rungs of the chain of command, beginning with the methods used for recruitment all the way up to the information services that present military encounters to the public. And finally, we need public accountability, which in times of just war means falling behind our leaders and sacrificing some of our materialistic desires to reduce the nation’s costs of fighting, or in times of unjust war it means fighting the politicians to bring our troops back home as quickly as possible.

Responsibility Part of the appeal to joining an all-volunteer military is the knowledge that you are giving something back to your country of your own free will. A much bigger draw is all the programs and benefits available to veterans. Maybe “alleged” benefits is a better description. The government of this country has a long history of abusing the trust given to it by its military personnel. We promise our veterans health care and education grants and housing loans to get them to enlist. Then, when they have served their tours, and come home to return to civilian life, they find that their hospitals have been closed or consolidated, their grants won’t cover the costs of tuition, or the loan limits preclude actually buying a house somewhere near an employer. In short, we are engaged in a classic bait and switch con game with the very people who would give their lives for our way of life. Our government is also responsible for training and equipping our military forces with the best materials at our disposal. If we are to send people into harms way, it should always be a top priority to give them the tools to succeed and survive. There must also be in place a firm objective and a firm goal for cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of forces. And, government must be responsible to the civilian populations in any country where our troops are engaged, taking the highest efforts to remove warfare from civilian populations and to assist in the rebuilding and protection of infrastructure as troops move to other forward positions.

Flexibility Just as the methods of warfare change as time and technology move forward, so too must the structure of an effective military evolve to meet these changing challenges. So far in the 21st century, our prime enemy is not a traditional state government, but rather an ideology that transcends borders and has no formal body of warriors. Efforts to combat this type of adversary are not always feasible with large deployments of men and machines. Other conflicts that call for armed intervention, genocidal conflicts within states that flare over borders, call for a different kind of force, one that is not unilateral in nature. In some cases, military actions such as containment of an enemy nation may require a different kind of soldier while actual defense of the homeland would present an entirely new problem and would likely result in an entirely different kind of fighting force. In order for our military to be prepared for each of these contingencies, we have a duty to reevaluate of military organizations and make rational adjustments based on the principals of security rather than on political appeasement.

Rationality Perhaps the most important aspect of the use of the military in a democracy is the duty of the government to keep the citizens apprised of what the troops are engaged in. It is our children, our parents, our friends and co-workers who are going off to fight. It is our right to know whom they are fighting and what they are fighting for. It is our right to know what the objectives are and how we will meet them. And for the people in the war zones, it is most necessary to understand what conditions must exist for our troops to make a safe exodus from their country and for the return of their government to them.

In this next series of essays, efforts will be made to address these problems with Common Sense solutions that could result in a much more efficient military, a much more effective military and a much more respected military for this country. In addition, discussions about the proper planning of military action, the rationale for taking military action, and observations on our current military endeavors will occur.