Why aren’t the rich and the famous in uniform?

Why don’t the elites serve? They probably never even consider it.  If asked, some in the opinion-making field might come up with a political reason.  However, before Clinton or Bush were elected, before 9/11, and before the war in Afghanistan, the second Iraq war, and the war on terror, and before gays in the military became an issue in reaction to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the elites weren’t volunteering, let alone encouraging their children to serve. The “reasons” may change but one thing remains constant: the expectation that military service is for the “other” and never for the most privileged.

Whatever the putative reasons behind the non-service of privileged Americans, our concern is that the gap between the opinion-makers — the cultural, professional, and business elites – and the military is harming us as a country now and may harm us to a far greater extent in the future. The stakes are high: the U.S. military is an arm of American official activity abroad. 

More and more Americans see the military as a kind of magic black box — put any desired outcome in, and results come out. Why didn’t we simply “secure Iraq” after we invaded? Why wasn’t Osama bin Laden captured in Afghanistan “when we had the chance”?  How come we didn’t “plan better for the war in Iraq”? Why didn’t we “stop the genocide in Rwanda”? Why didn’t we invade the Sudan to “save the people in Darfur”? Did the military “get to New Orleans fast enough” after Hurricane Katrina? 

The country needs to debate our military policy wisely. We are not sure America is doing that today. We are certain of the fact that fewer and fewer civilian leaders and opinion-makers have actual military experience, let alone a personal stake in our country’s military decisions, a “stake” that stares back at them from their beloved child’s boot camp graduation photograph.

We believe we are shortchanging ourselves as a country, and we are shortchanging a generation of smart, motivated Americans who have been prejudiced against service by parents and teachers. Their parents may think they are protecting their children. Their teachers may think they are enlightening them. But perhaps what these young people are being protected from is maturity, selflessness, and the kind of ownership of their country that can give it a better future.

[1]  While the Marine Corps missed some targets for the initial sign-up of recruits, they continued to overperform on the measure that is more critical to them: the number of recruits who actually ship to boot camp.  The Army was seriously underperforming both on original sign-ups and shipping-out rates, even after adjusting down their recruiting goals.

[2]  Donald N. Zillman, “Where Have All the Soldiers Gone II: Military Veterans in Congress and the State of Civil-Military Relations,” Maine Law Review (2006) (publication forthcoming).  Seventy percent of Congress were veterans in 1969.  Twenty-five percent were veterans in the Congress of 2004.

Excerpted from “AWOL” by Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

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