Military Issues

James B. CampbellCaptain USN (retired)

So why do young men and women decided to join the military services?

• Economic opportunities• Educational opportunities• Patriotism and Service to the Nation• Sense of travel and adventure• Discipline and maturation• Escape from personal situations

The Constitution and the Military• Commander in Chief: President of the

United States• Congress assigned authority to declare

war• Senate approves promotion of all

officers• Certain limits on Constitutional Rights of

Military members

Supremacy of civilian authority over the military dates back to George Washington

Should military officers become involved in political affairs—should ex-generals run for President of the United States and advocate political stances ?

Societal Cost of Military Services

Demographics

“It’s just not fair that people that we ask to fight our wars are people who join the military

because of economic conditions, because they have few options.”

Representative Charles B. RangelD-New York

New York TimesMarch 30, 2003

• Minorities overrepresented• Wealthy and underclass underrepresented• Officer ranks politically conservative• Northeastern region fading from ranks• Better educated than population in general• Warrior caste • Discussions of a new military draft

Is the military service a “poor man’s/poor woman’s fight and a rich man’s war”?

-National median income for all U.S.

households: $41,994

-Mean income for military recruits’ households: $41,141

Source: The Heritage Foundation: Dr. Tim Kane, PhD“The Demographics of Military Enlistment After 911,Executive Memorandum #987

Is the military service a “poor man’s/poor woman’s fight and a rich man’s war”?

-National high school level 18-24

years old: 75 percent

-Military highs school level 18-24 years old: 98 percent

Source: The Heritage Foundation: Dr. Tim Kane, PhD“The Demographics of Military Enlistment After 911,Executive Memorandum #987

Competition Among ServicesCultural Differences

Should the military services all wear one uniform?

Does friction among the services allow healthy competition and better systems or harm the overall good of the nation?

Examples: Navy Missiles, Air Force aircraft, Marine Expeditionary systems, and Army M1A1 tanks

Ethics in WarfareJus ad Bellum: (Legality in going to War)Circumstances under which states can wage war

“the use of armed force by another State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state”

Principles of right authority, right intention, reasonable hope, proportionality, and last resort

What about preemptive war?What about ethnic cleansing and genocide?

Ethics in Warfare

Qaeda-led group vows "jihad" over Pope's speech

Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:04am ETDUBAI (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group led by al Qaeda vowed a war against the "worshippers of the cross" in response to a recent speech by Pope Benedict on Islam that sparked anger across the Muslim world.

"We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said an Internet statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al Qaeda.

"We shall break the cross and spill the wine. ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement.

Ethics in WarfareJus in Bello: (justice in war and limiting war)

“the guidelines for fighting well once war has begun”

• Discrimination and non-combatant immunity• Proportionality• Rights of Soldiers

Doctrine of Double effects: civilian causalities are justifiable so long as their deaths are not intended and accidental

Collateral Damage: destruction unavoidable incurred in the act of destroying a military target

Does morality exist in warfare and can one side do what ever is necessary to win?

FRICTION OF WAR

Force that makes the apparently easy, difficultAction in war is like movement in a resistant

element.

FOG OF WAR

The phrase fog of war was first used by Carl von Clausewitz in reference to how chaotic

warfare can seem while one is immersed within it.