Showing posts with label Veterans Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Veterans Day. Show all posts
Monday, November 11, 2024
Saturday, November 11, 2023
A few Veterans Day Comments.
Somewhere in Korea.
I wasn't going to post on Veterans Day at all, in part because the overblown hero worship that's been attached to it for some time is really starting to bug me. But then, I've been owly recently anyhow.
But, as predictable (every year the number of posts on this site goes up, this year no exception, which is why I’m considering not posting at all in December) I changed my mind. A few random comments.
Were you in the Army?
My new associate asked me this the other day, as I have the photograph of my basic training platoon up on my office wall.
Funny, I'm so used to it being there, I never notice it.
Military service, regular and reserve, was routine when I was young. Not everyone had it by any means, but lots of people do.
And this was even more so for my parents. My father was in the Air Force, his brother in the Army. My other uncles in the World War Two Navy and Canadian Army, and post-war Navy. The guys my father ate lunch with every day had all been in the service.
Not so much anymore.
November 7, 1983: Able Archer 83, a Close Call
An item from Uncle Mike's fine blog.
I was in the National Guard at the time. Little did we realize how close we'd come to serving in a short, sharp, and probably nuclear war.
As odd as it may sound, I actually had predicted a war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact at about this time, a predication that didn't come true, but my reasoning was sound.
Reagan became President in 1981 and as soon as his first military budgets started to take effect, things really were noticeable in the Guard. New equipment, better field training, etc. The Warsaw Pact took note of that and started building up to counter it.
Able Archer, like Team Spirit, and Reforger were all part of the training regime of the time. It was no secret that the Warsaw Pact was trying to respond to it all. In the end, that spending brought them down. They couldn't afford it.
A lesson there to a country that's spending like crazy right now and just got economically downgraded.
Anyhow, my prediction nearly came true with Able Archer, but not for the reason I thought this would happen. I thought it would happen as the Warsaw Pact, or rather the USSR, would reason that it only had so much time while it had military superiority in which to act.
This was a view, I'd note, that was reinforced by playing the military hex and counter war games based on a NATO/Warsaw Pact war. It was pretty clear that it was really hard for NATO to win a conventional one.
Or so it seemed.
We vastly overrated the Red Army and Soviet military equipment, as the war in Ukraine has demonstrated.
Funny, at the same time I recall being assigned A Republic of Grass in college which suggested we surrender to the Soviets before a war broke out.
A note on Reagan
When Reagan was President, I wasn't sure what to make of him. As a Guardsman, we were all grateful for the new equipment and attitude. Carter's military had been a sad sort of thing, as exemplified, perhaps, by the failed attempt to mount a raid to free the Iranian embassy hostages.
But it seemed like we were messing around in Central America an awful lot, which I wasn't sure what to make of. In retrospect, it's clear that the Cold War was being played out there in proxy.
When Reagan was president, I was a university student. It seems to be forgotten now, but most university students weren't big Reagan fans. As noted, I wasn't an opponent, but I wasn't a fan. My father was convinced that Reagan had Alzheimer's which, in fact, he did.
On Reagan and Carter, it's interesting to note that Carter was an Annapolis graduate. Reagan had more of a military career than his opponents claimed, having been a pre-war cavalry reserve officer, but his wartime role was in the branch of the military that made films. That was honorable enough, but Reagan introduced the snappy salute to servicemen which stuck after that, and which I don't like. Presidents saluting servicemen seems really odd, particularly when we get Presidents who've never been in the military.
Anyhow, most of my conservative friends love and admire Reagan. I still am not so sure about him. I can see where he made course corrections at the time which were vital. It was under Reagan, really, that the country got back on its feet after the Vietnam War. And Reagan introduced the brief period of Buckleyite conservatism, which I like, to the government.
He also, however, started the populist smudge which is now a roaring flame by using the Southern Strategy to win, and that's having dire effects. And frankly, I'm not impressed with the starving of the government economically that came in at that time.
On this Veterans Day, don't thank those who served, but ponder those who didn't.
This sounds harsh, but I'm not kidding.
Most veterans don't really want to be thanked for serving. Truth be known, a lot of us served for reasons that weren't all that noble or were mixed. Paying for university was in my mind, for example.
Having said that, in my adult years I've known a few people who avoided serving in the military when there was a time of need. Some of them have real reason of conscience and can and do defend it, on the rare occasions it comes up.
In contrast, we have people who sort of hero worship the military, or who are public figures thanking it, about whom there are real questions.
Donald Trump sent out his thanks today, but he avoided the Vietnam draft on a medical profile. That's never been adequately answered, and in private comments he disdains those who served in the military, which fits right in with his epic level of being self impressed. Biden had draft deferments too, I'd note.
There are real reasons for deferments, but what gets me here is the co-opting of valor, or the bestowing of it on people who don't deserve it. People don't claim that Biden is some sort of hero. But you can find completely absurd illustrations of Trump as a military figure. I don't really see Trump voluntarily serving in any war at any time, and had he lived during the Revolution, I sure don't see him as some sort of Continental Army officer.
So, while it's rude, for at least some thanking veterans "for their service", an appropriate response is "why didn't you serve?".
The real purpose of the day
The real purpose of this day is to remember the dead and badly wounded. That's about it.
Lots of people serve during time of peace in one way or another. We don't deserve your thanks. Yes, I'm sure that I'm personally responsible for keeping the Red Horde at bay, but I didn't get hurt serving. Truth be known, I benefitted from it personally in all sorts of ways, a lot of which are deeply personal. The service formed a lot of my psychology on certain things in a permanent way, all of which are ways in which I'm glad that it did.
A lot goes into a person's personality, some of it more significant than others, and I do have more significant ones. The service was, however, a significant one. Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I had not gotten out of the Guard when I did, also for a selection of personal reasons.
So I owe the service thanks. The country doesn't really owe me any. But people whose lives were permanently altered or last? Well, that's a different matter.
Thursday, November 11, 1943. Armistace Day.
It was Armistice Day for 1943.
Japanese American Girl Scouts walking in front of barracks and carrying American flags while incarcerated at Heart Mountain concentration camp, Wyoming, 11/11/43.
The Moscow Conference came to an end.
French security forces raided the homes of President El Khoury, Prime Minister Riad Al Solh, and all but two members of the Cabinet, including future President Camille Chamoun, in reaction to the unilateral Lebanese repeal of the League of Nations' mandate over the country.
High Commissioner Helleu suspended the Lebanese constitution and appointed Émile Eddé as the new President.
The dissolution and unraveling of the French Empire had commenced.
In France, Armée Secrète Resistance fighters led by Colonel Henri Romans-Petit placed flowers at the foot of the memorial for the dead of the Great War in an act of bold defiance of the Germans.
The Red Army took Radomyshi.
Allied bombing of Rabaul ended following a final raid, with nearly every Japanese ship there disabled or destroyed.
Sarah Sundin notes something about that raid:
Today in World War II History—November 11, 1943: In Rabaul raid, US Navy Curtiss SB2C Helldiver makes its combat debut. US Eighth Air Force activates “Carpetbagger” squadrons to deliver supplies to resistance.
The film Sahara, with heroic Allies stranded in the desert, and even a sympathetic Italian character, holding off the Germans, was released.
Three Allied transport ships and a tanker are sunk east of Oran in a major Luftwaffe raid.
Sunday, November 11, 1923. Armistace Day.
It was Armistice Day for 1923. Secretary of War John Weeks, Pres. Calvin Coolidge, and Asst. Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt paid tribute at Arlington to the Unknown Solder.
German police found Adolf Hitler hiding in the attic of his friend with a country home, Ernst Hanfstaengl and arrested him.
Hanfstaengl was a member of German high society and was instrumental in polishing Hitler's early image with the elite. He fell out of favor almost as soon as Hitler came to power, however, and worked for the Allies profiling Hitler's psychology, as an exile, during World War Two.
German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann accepted the return of Crown Prince Wilhelm.
Saturday, November 12, 2022
A declining population of veterans
It occurred to me on Veterans Day that, when I first went to work where I still work, in 1990 (or actually 1989), there were seven lawyers, of which four were veterans. I became the eighth, and of course was also a veteran.
Now, of us seven, I'm the only one.
I'm the only one, in fact, in the entire office. Over the years, in addition to the lawyers, there's been two staff members who were Marine Corps veterans.
As noted, now it's just me.
Friday, November 11, 2022
Thanks for having been in the service
The Ghosts of Prior Careers
On a Saturday, while working on my now very long term one of nearly thirty years.
I just ran this item:
It'd be very easy to take it the wrong way.
As noted in that thread, it's common now for people to tell you "thank you for your service!" Indeed, some years ago I saw a National Guardsman coming out of the barber shop and, out on the street, a woman being arrested for something yelled it out, to his surprise.
I'm a contraran anyhow, and I always feel awkward about such thanks, but this thread is on thanks.
But in another direction. I'm thankful that I served in the National Guard.
Technically, I served in the Army and the National Guard. Basic training and AIT were so long for cannoneers that I received an Honorable Discharge from the U.S. Army after AIT. And FWIW I was activated for summer employment and other active service at the armory that I have more time in active service than some guys who did the short two-year Cold War enlistments do.
I've often regretted getting out. The end of my Guard career was due to a misconception about how busy I'd be in law school. I listed to people about law school and how hard it was. I shouldn't have.
Anyhow, I'm glad I served in the Guard.
The National Guard/Army put me together with a lot of men, and we're talking about the basically nearly all military of that era, who came from very different backgrounds than me and who worked in lots of different occupations, many of them in manual occupations. I learned from that a lot of them had very common interests with me. I also learned that a lot of them were every bit as smart as I was.
This is something I've found that a lot of people who haven't ever been in the service don't appreciate. Blue collar workers aren't there due to intellectual deficit. And the knowledge they possess in their fields is both vast, and interesting. Knowing that has served me all my life.
Getting through basic training taught me that I was pretty tough. I don't know what basic is like now, but the Army basic training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, of the 1980s was very close to what was depicted in Full Metal Jacket. We were told by one of our drill sergeants early on that his job was to make basic training as rough as possible, as combat would be worse, and he wanted those who were going to fail, to fail then. Quite a few did fail.
That's served me ever since as well. Indeed, not so much now, but for years decades after Ft. Sill, in times of high stress, things I learned there by memory would come flooding bad to mind. We'd been so well-trained that it was automatic.
It also made every one "man up", although by that age I was pretty much an adult already. Since getting out of school, I've been amazed by the degree to which a lot of modern adults never actually become adults. There's a song out there somewhere called High School Never Ends, and for an amazing number of people, it really doesn't. Being part of an organization in which you are flatly informed that in the event of certain circumstances you are expected to perform until dead, and that death would come soon and violently, really takes the game playing out of a person in serious settings.
Related to that, I've noted it before, and will again, but the Guard also taught me a system of organization and its stayed with me ever since. Everything I've learned about office management I learned in the Guard, including that there's different roles and classes in offices, just like in the Army, for a reason. I've watched over the years as people who don't have that background run around talking about "teams" and "we're all in this together" only to see things fail. I've seen people make friends in offices they shouldn't have, surrender their efficiency to inattention or whatever, and go into power pouts when things didn't go the way they personally felt they should, or just because they turned out to be serious. I've avoided all of that, in no small part due to the Guard/Army.
And the Guard gave me a job when I was young, and really needed one. It helped pay for my schooling and gave me a way to try to do that, for which I remain grateful.
The Guard also blessed me with at least one instance of nearly being killed and not be. That may sound odd, but only people whom have been exposed to sudden violent death, and then escaped it, knows what that means. People's plans are always subject to the fickle hand of fate. One moment you are doing your job, and the next an entire battery of 8in artillery shells are coming right down on you.
And finally, it gave me an appreciation of history in a way which only somebody who has been in a military unit can.
Saturday, November 11, 1922. Four years after the war.
It was Armistace Day, 1922, but Judge went to the stands with a Thanksgiving themed cover.
President Harding paid his respects to the Veterans of the Great War, and in particular its dead.
The National Women's Party was holding its conference.
A magnitude 8.5 earthquake struck Chile, killing 1,000 or so people.
The Unknown Soldier of Belgium was interred at the base of the Congress Column in Brussels.
A Veterans' Day Essay on Worshiping the Military
I had not, in any fashion, intended to run this on Veterans Day. Indeed, when I picked this treat back up, my last work on it was on October 8.
Do I seriously intend to pick on veterans?
No.
War bond poster by J. C. Leyendecker from 1944 featuring Gen. George S. Patton. Not every veteran is Patton or Audie Murphy. Fact is, most aren't. For that matter, plenty of people might worship Patton now, and he was a great general, but at the time plenty of Americans despised him and he was never very popular with his troops.
So, I'm really risking it, but perhaps its best said on this day afterall.
"Thank you for your service!"
Shoshone National Forest
@ShoshoneNF
With Veterans Day coming up this Friday, the Shoshone National Forest sends a big thank you to all of our Veterans and wants to recognize a few of our awesome employees who served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Well, thank you for the tuition assistance.
I want to stop right here and note a few things.
I'm a veteran.
My father was a veteran of the Korean War. His only brother was an Army veteran of the late 1950s. All my uncles here in town were veterans. One of my mother's brothers was a Canadian World War Two veteran.
I do respect veterans.
I'll also note, that in the view of all of the people noted above, Veteran's Day meant a day for men who had fought in combat.
Combat Veterans. That's how they viewed it.
And, in terms of thanking me for my service, while we're at it, thanks to everyone in a position of power for keeping the Cold War from going hot in general, and particularly from 1981 to 1987. I appreciate it.
I was an artilleryman.
Should this matter to you? Probably not, or at least in no definite fashion.
Back when I was a Guardsman, nobody ran around thanking anyone for their service. Truth be known, even though that was in the 80s, it was still close enough to the Vietnam War that we pretty much kept it to ourselves if we could. And in the Reagan Era, quite frankly, if you were a young man in the service, you were probably out of sync with your generation that was busy asserting that the Soviets and other Reds weren't that big of a deal and Ron was going to get us into a nuclear war.
My, how things have changed.
Army weapons qualification badges. I have the one on the left, expert, for rifle and hand grenade.
This appears in a long letter in the Cowboy State Daily by a fellow who spent a career in the military, concerning the lawyers who wrote to Harriet Hageman, the previously mentioned "Wyoming 41":
2. Your self-serving statement that lawyers have done more than any other profession makes me nauseous. Talk to those who have served in the military to protect our constitutional republic, to include making us a free nation. Talk to those who have served and lost limbs and have many other maladies that they received in battle. Talk to the families of those who have given their lives for this nation in war. Then you should reevaluate your arrogant statement about having done more than any other profession. You should be ashamed. You will better understand my ire on this issue when you have read my letter.
First, let me note that I looked this individual up, and he's a retired Colonel in the USAF. A report on his career provides:
He is still fond of many of his UW instructors. After graduation, Steve received commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. He served as a contracting officer through his 26-year career, had 13 moves throughout the U.S. and spent about a third of his assignments in Europe. He also earned his master’s from the Air Force Institute of Technology.
A contracting officer for 26 years.
He ain't Audie Murphy.
They also serve who sit and work on contracts, but that's not exactly facing down the Red Coats at Bunker Hill, now is it? Nor is it manning a cross road in the Ardennes, firiing your M1 Garand at the Red Chinese in Korea, or going on patrol in Vietnam.
It's service, but it points out something about the U.S. military that most people don't really like to consider, that being that the era when most servicemen filled a role like that portrayed in The Sands of Iwo Jima was so long ago that, well, it wasn't even the case in the era depicted by The Sands of Iwo Jima.
I might as well point it out here. Do I think my six years of being an artilleryman during the Cold War are more significant and valuable service than 27 years of being an Air Force contracts officer?
Well. . . quite frankly I very well might.
It was, in a real sense, more military.
Contract officers besieged by angry mail clerks, oh wait, that's actually My Bunkie, by Charles Shreyvogel.
More on that later.
Let's start with an uncomfortable fact.
Whether you agree with the view or not, and I don't, for the most part, professional soldiers were looked upon as lazy men who were too lazy, or too dull, to obtain any other employment, from 1776 until 1940. The sole exception was during wartime, during which time most of the men in the Regular Army were, in fact, recent inductees in the service for the war, only.
Moreover, this view was really widespread around the globe. It wasn't just Americans who viewed their militaries this way. As an example, the view was so strong in Canada that even the generation that fought the Second World War largely regarded the small professional Canadian military as a collection of lazy bums who could find no other work. I've personally encountered that view from Canadians of that generation. And the British view might be best expressed in the complaint of the career soldier given voice by Kipling, which stated:
I went into a public 'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, " We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' " Tommy, go away " ;
But it's " Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's " Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' " Tommy, wait outside ";
But it's " Special train for Atkins " when the trooper's on the tide
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's " Special train for Atkins " when the trooper's on the tide.
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap.
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an` Tommy, 'ow's yer soul? "
But it's " Thin red line of 'eroes " when the drums begin to roll
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's " Thin red line of 'eroes, " when the drums begin to roll.
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an` Tommy, fall be'ind,"
But it's " Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's " Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.
You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an` Chuck him out, the brute! "
But it's " Saviour of 'is country " when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An 'Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!
I didn't say I agreed with this, but that was the nearly universal view, and very much the view in North America.
American animosity towards professional soldiers was so high that after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 the United States pretty much decided to have no army at all. Standing armies were regarded, and rightfully regarded, as threats to the freedom of the nation. Congress rightfully feared a military coup a lot more than they did the British, French or Spanish, and the thought was that the nation's security could be provided by a professional Navy and state militias. This topic was so seriously considered that the Commander of the Continental Army, George Washington, was asked to give his opinion on it nearly immediately, and did so in a long letter entitled Sentiments on a Peace Establishment.1 As Washington recommended, the established size of the U.S. Army went down to a single regiment, small enough that it wasn't a burden on the nation's coffers or a threat to the government, hopefully.
Navies weren't regarded as being a coup threat as, well, they weren't. Navies of the time were strange by modern standards anyhow, being multiethnic polyglot affairs in the enlisted ranks commanded by citizen commissioned officers. Every navy in the world valued seafaring skills more than anything else, so having a crew made up of people from all over the seafaring world was the norm. The U.S. Navy, for example, was integrated, with black and white crewmen. One of the first Congressional Medals of Honor issued to a sailor, for example, was issued to one who was a British citizen serving on the USS Wyoming in a river fight on a Japanese river that took place during the American Civil War. The US didn't even know the captain of the vessel had chosen to engage it in that fashion, something that was typical of the Navy at the time.
Even at that, however, the Navy didn't really trust sailors, who were known to mutiny, which is why it formed the Marine Corps. The Marines were seagoing infantry, but they were also seafaring security to put down mutinies should they occur. This is the reason that the Marines were all white. They didn't want them identifying with the crew, who would almost certainly not be.
Congress kept the Army really tiny all the way from 1783 right through the War of 1812, which was fought more with militiamen than regular soldiers. This is part of the reason, but only part, that the United States lost the War of 1812 even while pretending to win it. Militias were of uneven quality and couldn't stand up, for the most part, against regular British soldiers, who were professionals. Having said that, American militia couldn't stand up, for the most part, against Canadian militia either, so that was only part of the problem. To their credit, however, American militia at New Orleans, and that's what they were, militia, did very well against British regulars there.
While the Army was reformed after the War of 1812, it didn't become enormous. The various Indian Wars, often extraordinarily brutal affairs, that were fought between 1812 and 1845, or for that matter between 1783 and 1845, were often Native Americans v. militia battles, which is part of the reason that they tended to really be tooth and nail in their character. While establishing some professionalism in this context would have seemed to have been the best possible approach, it was not done for the most part and the US went into the Mexican War once again depending heavily on state militias, many units of which were simply raised for the war. While the U.S. Army performed extremely well during the war, reliance on militia was so heavy that when the initial levies of militiamen had their terms of service expire with the war still going on, it was necessary to raise a new levy as they went home.
The results of the Mexican War required, for the first time, that Congress expanded the size of the U.S. Army somewhat significantly, as the size of the country had expanded enormously. The war had barely ended when the Army began moving into frontier forts, like Ft. Laramie.
While now forgotten, it was that Army that fought the first series of Indian Wars in the West. It was also that Army that went into the Civil War, where once again volunteer units vastly outnumbered the temporarily expanded Regular Army in the North. Volunteer units of course dominated in the South, to the extent that it's easy to forget that the Confederacy actually did establish a Regular Army.
The Army that came into existence after the Civil War can pretty much be regarded as the model of the Army from 1865 until 1940. Its peacetime establishment was always very small. Its officer corps was disproportionately, but certainly not exclusively, Southern. And from some point in the first half of the 19th Century on, the enlisted ranks included a high percentage of immigrants, with those frequently being Irish and German immigrants. In contrast, every state had regular militia units, and quite a few had special volunteer units that were nearly social clubs in later years.
From 1783 until 1940, Americans did not regard regular soldiers fondly. While the economy of the nation was certainly not always growing, generally enlisted soldiers were looked down upon as men too lazy to find real work or exploit real opportunities and the officers were not regarded as being much better. Going to the United States Military Academy was regarded as a great opportunity for young men, if they could secure an appointment, but staying in the military was not admired and many did not after their initial commitment was finished, just like today.
Indeed, it's worth noting that such figures as U.S. Grant and William T. Sherman, although they were West Point graduates and Mexican War veterans, were not in the Army at the start of the Civil War, the largest war the US has ever fought. Indeed, Grant was in the Army from 1839 to 1854, and then again from 1861 to 1869, a total of 23 years, which would not have been a sufficient number of years of regular service, at the time, for him to retire. Sherman was in the Army from 1840 to 1853, and then again from 1861 to 1884, a total of 36 years, most of which was post Civil War. Dwight Eisenhower's father-in-law, upon his marriage to his daughter, encouraged Eisenhower to get out of the Army and into business. John J. Pershing acquired a law degree while a military instructor at the University of Nebraska and nearly left the service himself, having been encouraged to do so, and having real doubts about remaining in the Army.
It was World War Two and the Cold War that really changed American attitudes about career military men, although not to the odd extent of hero worshiping we see now. The Second World War was fought with civilians in uniform, not career soldiers, for the most part, but career Army officers really shown through. The experience of the war caused the American public, for the very first time, to accept a large standing military in peacetime, but one, critically, that was manned via conscription. This mean that virtually every male in the US who was of military age after 1940 had some military experience up until at least the 1960s.
That was the case when I was young. My father had been in the USAF at the end of the Korean War. His only brother had been in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s. My uncles who married my father's sisters had both been in the Navy, one as a submarine officer in World War Two and another as a destroyer officer right after the war. My mother's military age oldest brother served throughout World War Two in the Canadian army. And even later on, when the influence of World War Two and the early Cold War/Korean War, waned a bit, finding men with military experience was extremely easy. Even my own late Cold War contemporaries had a lot of military experience, myself included, in our demographic.
That's no longer true.
Conscription came to an end in 1973. The Cold War ended in 1990. The size of the military decreased, and indeed, it has become hard to get into.
And something odd has happened.
Even after the military expanded enormously due to World War Two, a healthy skepticism remained about military service, which would occasionally break out into not so healthy cynicism. Joseph Heller gave us such an example with his novel Catch 22, in which career officers and some career enlisted men were not so gently lampooned. A brilliant example was given by the Korean War novel M*A*S*H, which later became a not so great film, but then a great television series. The author of M*A*S*H was actually a very conservative physician who didn't dislike the military. Heller, in private interviews, admired the World War Two officer corps he had experienced in the war.
Perhaps the most common attitude, in a way, can be seen in the one that shows up in Biloxi Blues, in which the young soldiers are basically baffled by the military and its customs. Career soldiers are not disdained, but befuddling.
Having said that, by the early 1960s, before the Vietnam War, Americans were already suspicious of the military establishment. In that year the novel Fail Safe was released, which was not sympathetic to all in the service and which warned of the dangers of militarism. That book was the source of two films, one by the same name and the other the satire Dr. Strangelove, both of which were widely admired. In 1964 the public went to see Seven Days In May in which the military plots to take over the government but is foiled by a junior Marine Corps officer. Things were set for the large-scale distrust of the career military that really started setting in during the late 1960s due to the Vietnam War.
Things have changed.
They started to change by the 1980s when the nation began to feel guilty about how it had treated Vietnam Vets. Portrayed at first as potentially dangerous psychotics, they were then portrayed as abused down-and-out citizens, and then as forgotten heroes. The change set in, and they've been treated that way ever since.
Indeed, things have changed so much that people who had relatively benign military service are free to inflate it with impunity. A person may have spent four years serving chow in San Diego, but when he enters civilian life again, he'll be treated as if he engaged the Taliban in hand-to-hand combat daily.
This, moreover, has spread into a type of uniform hero worship. Not only are current and former members of the military uniformly regarded as heroic, about any service of any kind that involves a uniform is as well.
And like the worship of former servicemen that existed in Weimar Germany, simply being a veteran in some instances has morphed into a sort of quasi political status. An organization like The Oath Keepers exists simply based on the fact that because its members have taken an oath "to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic", they have a right to determine who those enemies are and act extra-legally to repress them.
Let's go back to that letter.
Let's first note that some of those 41 lawyers who signed that letter have served in the military too, and some of them in jobs that actually involved dangers greater than a nasty paper cut at the office.
And that's important to note, as the military history of this nation is principally in the "citizen solder" category. Most of the veterans we used to admire when I was growing up were local men who had entered service because some crisis compelled them to. That was part of the honor of their service.
This isn't to dis career military men by any means. But let's be honest. It's draftees and militiamen who have done the fighting for this country when it really mattered. If you really want to honor veterans whose service counted, a lot of them are in that category.
Including some of the 41.
And, like them or not, , and there's plenty or reason no to, over the nation's 200 plus years lawyers have probably done more to serve the interests of the nation than the military, as a class. It's just a plain and simple fact.
In other words, the Colonel above is flat out wrong.
Indeed, the nation was in some significant ways created by lawyers with a strong legal structure, and part of that was cutting the military off at the knees, legally. There's a reason that the Constitution precludes quartering soldiers in civilian homes. The early founders were proud of their militia service for their colonies, even where it had served King George, but they didn't want a standing army around at all. The associated that with repression.
And let's get into one more uncomfortable fact. It's really only after the size of the military swelled due to the wars of the mid 20th Century that being a thing like a "contract officer" was a thing. Prior to that, most of the roles we associate with civilians were fulfilled by civilians. Once the military was forced to deploy in large scale overseas due to World War One, World War Two, and the Cold War, this changed and a lot of civilian supported roles were incorporated into the military by necessity.
But that's been going back in the other direction for some time.
Now, I'm not saying that being a contract officer is not real service. It is. And, important to note, since at least World War One more American servicemen have been in non combat roles than the opposite. That's part of the American way of war. We're thick on logistics, and thin on combat troops.
And that's great, for us, and not so much for our enemies.
But let's not be sanctimonious about it either.
In other words:
Talk to those who have served in the military to protect our constitutional republic, to include making us a free nation. Talk to those who have served and lost limbs and have many other maladies that they received in battle. Talk to the families of those who have given their lives for this nation in war. Then you should reevaluate your arrogant statement about having done more than any other profession. You should be ashamed. You will better understand my ire on this issue when you have read my letter.
Yes, go ahead and talk to them. But if you aren't one, don't be ashamed. And if your service was in the contractual department, be proud of that, but don't pretend you speak for some teenage kid who joined the service as he didn't see any other options, or as he'd heard too much of the glory of military life.
And while you are at it, remember what they were fighting for, and that it was the same thing that protesters were fighting for at Selma, or that lawyers who fought for civil rights in the 60s were. And what they were fighting against is the same thing the Oath Keepers stand for.
If you can't do that, well, there's probably a movie marathon on TCM.
Footnotes:
1.
Newburgh May 1st 1783
A Peace Establishment for the United States of America may in my opinion be classed under four different heads Vizt.
First. A regular and standing force, for Garrisoning West Point & such other Posts upon our Northern, Western, and Southern Frontiers, as shall be deemed necessary to awe the Indians, protect our Trade, prevent the encroachment of our Neighbours of Canada and the Florida’s, and guard us at least from surprizes; Also for security of our Magazines.
Secondly. A well organized Militia; upon a Plan that will pervade all the States, and introduce similarity in their Establishment Manœuvres, Exercise and Arms.
Thirdly. Establishing Arsenals of all kinds of Military Stores.
Fourthly: Accademies, one or more for the Instruction of the Art Military; particularly those Branches of it which respect Engineering and Artillery, which are highly essential, and the knowledge of which, is most difficult to obtain. Also Manufactories of some kinds of Military Stores.
Upon each of these, and in the order in which they stand, I shall give my sentiments as concisely as I can, and with that freedom which the Committee have authorized.
Altho’ a large standing Army in time of Peace hath ever been considered dangerous to the liberties of a Country, yet a few Troops, under certain circumstances, are not only safe, but indispensably necessary. Fortunately for us our relative situation requires but few. The same circumstances which so effectually retarded, and in the end conspired to defeat the attempts of Britain to subdue us, will now powerfully tend to render us secure. Our distance from the European States in a great degree frees us of apprehension, from their numerous regular forces and the Insults and dangers which are to be dreaded from their Ambition.
But, if our danger from those powers was more imminent, yet we are too poor to maintain a standing Army adequate to our defence, and was our Country more populous & rich, still it could not be done without great oppression of the people. Besides, as soon as we are able to raise funds more than adequate to the discharge of the Debts incurred by the Revolution, it may become a Question worthy of consideration, whether the surplus should not be applied in preparations for building and equipping a Navy, without which, in case of War we could neither protect our Commerce, nor yield that Assistance to each other, which, on such an extent of Sea-Coast, our mutual Safety would require.
Fortifications on the Sea Board may be considered in two points of view, first as part of the general defence, and next, as securities to Dock Yards, and Arsenals for Ship Building, neither of which shall I take into this plan; because the first would be difficult, if not, under our circumstances, impracticable; at any rate amazingly expensive. The other, because it is a matter out of my line, and to which I am by no means competent, as it requires a consideration of many circumstances, to which I have never paid attention.
The Troops requisite for the Post of West Point, for the Magazines, and for our Northern, Western and Southern Frontiers, ought, in my opinion, to amount to 2631. officers of all denominations included; besides the Corps of Invalids. If this number should be thought large, I would only observe; that the British Force in Canada is now powerful, and, by report, will be increased; that the frontier is very extensive; that the Tribes of Indians within our Territory are numerous, soured and jealous; that Communications must be established with the exterior Posts; And, that it may be policy and œconomy, to appear respectable in the Eyes of the Indians, at the Commencement of our National Intercourse and Traffic with them. In a word, that it is better to reduce our force hereafter, by degrees, than to have it to increase after some unfortunate disasters may have happened to the Garrisons; discouraging to us, and an inducement to the Enemy to attempt a repetition of them.
Besides these Considerations, we are not to forget, that altho’ by the Treaty, half the Waters, and the free Navigation of the Lakes appertain to us, yet, in Case of a rupture with Great Britain we should in all probability, find little benefits from the Communications with our upper Posts, by the Lakes Erie and Ontario; as it is to be presumed, that the Naval superiority which they now have on those Waters, will be maintained. It follows as a Consequence then, that we should open new or improve the present half explored Communications with Detroit and other Posts on the Lakes, by the Waters of the Susquehannah Potowmack or James River, to the Ohio, from whence, with short Portages several Communications by Water may be opened with Lake Erie. To do which, Posts should be established at the most convenient places on the Ohio. This would open several doors for the supply of the Garrisons on the Lakes; and is absolutely necessary for such others as may be tho’t advisable to establish upon the Mississippi. The Ohio affording the easiest, as well as the safest Route to the Illinois settlements, and the whole Country below on the Mississippi, quite to our Southern boundary.
To protect the Peltry and Fur Trade, to keep a watch upon our Neighbours, and to prevent their encroaching upon our Territory undiscovered, are all the purposes that can be answered by an extension of our Posts, at this time, beyond Detroit, to the Northward or Westward: but, a strong Post on the Scioto, at the carrying place between it and the River Sandusky, which empties into Lake Erie, mentioned in Hutchins’s Description of that Country Page 24, and more plainly pointed out by Evans’s Map, is indispensably necessary for the security of the present Settlers, and such as probably, will immediately settle within those Limits. And by giving security to the Country and covering its Inhabitants, will enable them to furnish supplies to the Garrisons Westward & Northward of these settlements, upon moderate and easy Terms.
The 2,631 Men beforementioned, I would have considered to all Intents and purposes as Continental Troops; looking up to Congress for their Orders, their pay, and supplies of every kind. The Infantry of which, being 1908 and, composing four Regiments may be thrown into the following disposition.
Establishment & Disposition of four Regts of Infantry 1908 Men including Officers.
Disposition. Officers Non Comd officers
Commissioned Staff Sergt Major Qr Mr Sergt Drum Major Fife Major Sergeants Drum & fifes Rank & File Total
Colonel Lt Colonel Major Captains Lieuts Ensigns Chaplain Adjutant P.Master Qr Master Surgeon Mate
Penobscot or St Croix or both 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 9 6 150
North End of Lake Champlain 1 1 4 4 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 8 200
Connecticut River near the 45th degree 1 1 2 1 30
Ticonderoga 1 1 1 20
Establishment & Strength 1 1 1 8 8 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 24 16 400 477.
Niagara 1 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 6 150
Oswego 1 1 2 1 30
Fort Erie No. end of Lake Erie 1 1 1 20
Detroit 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 9 6 150
Streights between Lakes Huron & Superior 1 1 1 3 2 50
Establishment & Strength. 1 1 1 8 8 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 24 16 400 477.
Fort Pitt 1 1 2 1 30
Mouth of the Scioto 1 1 1 20
Portage between Scioto & Sandusky 1 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 6 150
Mouth of Kentucky or the Rapids 1 1 2 1 30
Mouth of the Ohio or near it 1 1 1 20
Height at the mouth of the River Illinois 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 9 6 150
Establishment & Strength. 1 1 1 8 8 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 24 16 400 477.
To be disposed, as those who are best acquainted with the Frontiers of the Carolinas & Georgia may direct. 1 1 1 8 8 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 24 16 400 477
Establishment & Strength of 4 Regt 4 4 4 32 32 32 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 96 64 1600 1908
Not having that particular knowledge of the situation of the Southern and Western Boundaries of the Carolinas and Georgia, which is necessary to decide on the Posts to be established in that District, the allotment of only one Regiment thereto, may be judged inadequate; should that be the case, a greater force may be established and sufficient allowance made them.
The above establishment differs from our present one, in the following instances Vizt: The exclusion of the light Company and reducing a sergeant and 18 Privates from each of the Battalion Companies, and giving a Chaplain to each Regiment instead of a Brigade. If it should be asked why the Reduction of Non Commisd Officers and Privates is made, while the Commissioned Officers remain the same? It may be answered, that the number of Men which compose the Infantry, will be sufficient for my Calculation, and that the situation of our Frontiers renders it...convenient to divide them into so many Corps as have been mentioned, for the ease and propriety of Command. I may also say, that in my Opinion, the number of our Commissioned Officers, has always been disproportionate to the Men. And that in the detached State in which these Regiments must be employed, they cannot consistently with the good of Service be reduced.
It may also be observed, that in case of War and a necessity of assembling their Regiment in the Field, nothing more will be necessary, than to recruit 18 Men to each Compy and give the Regiment its flank Company. Or if we should have occasion to add strength to the Garrisons, or increase the number of our Posts, we may augment 900 Men including Serjeants, without requiring more than the Officers of 4 Companies, or exceeding our present Establishment. In short, it will give us a Number of Officers well skilled in the Theory and Art of War, who will be ready on any occasion, to mix and diffuse their knowledge of Discipline to other Corps, without that lapse of Time, which, without such Provision, would be necessary, to bring intire new Corps acquainted with the principles of it.
Besides the 4 Regiments of Infantry, one of Artillery will be indispensably necessary. The Invalid Corps should also be retained. Motives of humanity, Policy and justice will all combine to prevent their being disbanded. The numbers of the last will, from the nature of their composition, be fluctuating and uncertain. The establishment of the former will be as follows, Vizt.
Establishment for One Regiment of Artillery.
Officers.
Commissioned Staff Non Commissioned
Colonel Lieut Colonel Major Captains Captn Lieuts. 1st Lieutenants 2d Lieutenants Chaplain Adjutant Pay Mr Qur Master Surgeon Mate Serjt Major Qur M Serjeant Drum Major Fife Major Serjeants Corporals Bombadiers Gunners Drums & fifes Matrosses Total
1 1 1 10 10 10 30 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 60 60 60 60 20 390 723.
To this Regiment of Artillery should be annexed 50 or 60 Artificers, of the various kinds which will be necessary, who may be distributed in equal numbers into the different Companies and being part of the Regiment, will be under the direction and Command of the Commanding Officer, to be disposed into different services as Circumstances shall require. By thus blending Artificers with Artillery, the expence of Additional Officers will be saved; and they will Answer all the purposes which are to be expected from them, as well as if formed into a distinct Corps.
The Regiment of Artillery, with the Artificers, will furnish all the Posts in which Artillery is placed, in proportionate numbers to the Strength and importance of them. The residue, with the Corps of Invalids, will furnish Guards for the Magazines, and Garrison West Point. The importance of this last mentioned Post, is so great, as justly to have been considered, the key of America; It has been so pre-eminently advantageous to the defence of the United States, and is still so necessary in that view, as well as for the preservation of the Union, that the loss of it might be productive of the most ruinous Consequences. A Naval superiority at Sea and on Lake Champlain, connected by a Chain of Posts on the Hudson River, would effect an entire separation of the States on each side, and render it difficult, if not impracticable for them to co-operate.
Altho’ the total of the Troops herein enumerated does not amount to a large number, yet when we consider their detached situation, and the extent of Country they are spread over: the variety of objects that are to be attended to, and the close inspection that will be necessary to prevent abuses or to correct them before they become habitual; not less than two General Officers in my opinion will be competent to the Duties to be required of them. They will take their Instructions from the Secretary at War, or Person acting at the Head of the Military Department, who will also assign them their respective and distinct Districts. Each should twice a Year visit the Posts of his particular District, and notice the Condition they are in, Inspect the Troops, their discipline and Police, Examine into their Wants, and see that strict justice is rendered them and to the Public, they should also direct the Colonels, at what intermediate Times they shall perform the like duties at the Posts occupied by the Detachments of their respective Regiments. The visiting General ought frequently, if not always, to be accompanied by a Skillful Engineer, who should point out such alterations and improvements as he may think necessary from time to time, for the defence of any of the Posts; which, if approved by the General, should be ordered to be carried into execution.
Each Colonel should be responsible for the Administration of his Regiment; and when present, being Commanding Officer of any Post, which is occupied by a Detachment from his Regt, he may give such directions as he may think proper, not inconsistent with the Orders of his Superior Officer, under whose general superintendence the Troops are. He will carefully exact Monthly Returns from all detachments of his Regiment; and be prepared to make a faithful report of all occurrences, when called upon by the General officer in whose Department he may be placed and whose instructions he is at all times to receive and obey. These Returns and Reports, drawn into a General one, are to be transmitted to the Secretary at War, by the visiting General, with the detail of his own proceedings, remarks and Orders.
The three Years Men now in service will furnish the proposed Establishment, and from these, it is presumed, the Corps must in the first Instance be composed. But as the pay of an American Soldier is much greater than any other we are acquainted with; and as there can be little doubt of our being able to obtain them in time of Peace, upon as good Terms as other Nations, I would suggest the propriety of inlisting those who may come after the present three years Men, upon Terms of similarity with those of the British, or any other the most liberal Nations.
When the Soldiers for the War have frolicked a while among their friends, and find they must have recourse to hard labour for a livelyhood, I am persuaded numbers of them will reinlist upon almost any Terms. Whatever may be adopted with respect to Pay, Clothing and Emoluments, they should be clearly and unequivocally expressed and promulgated, that there may be no deception or mistake. Discontent, Desertion and frequently Mutiny, are the natural consequences of these; and it is not more difficult to know how to punish, than to prevent these inconveniencies, when it is known, that there has been delusion on the part of the Recruiting Officer, or a breach of Compact on the part of the public. The pay of the Battalion Officer’s is full low, but those of the Chaplain, Surgeon and Mate are too high; and a proper difference should be made between the Non-Commissioned Officers (serjeants particularly) and Privates, to give them that pride and consequence which is necessary to Command.
At, or before the Time of discharging the Soldiers for the War, the Officers of the Army may signify their wishes either to retire, upon the Half pay, or to continue in the service; from among those who make the latter choice, the number wanted for a Peace Establishment may be selected; and it were to be wished, that they might be so blended together from the Several Lines, as to remove, as much as possible, all Ideas of State distinctions.
No Forage should be allowed in time of Peace to Troops in Garrison, nor in any circumstances, but when actually on a March.
Soldiers should not be inlisted for less than three Years, to commence from the date of their attestations; and the more difference there is in the commencement of their terms of Service, the better; this Circumstance will be the means of avoiding the danger and inconvenience of entrusting any important Posts to raw Recruits unacquainted with service.
Rum should compose no part of a Soldier’s Ration; but Vinegar in large quantities should be issued. Flour or Bread, and a stipulated quantity of the different kinds of fresh or Salted Meat, with Salt, when the former is Issued, is all that should be contracted for.
Vegetables they can, and ought to be compelled to raise. If spruce, or any other kind of small Beer, could be provided, it ought to be given gratis, but not made part of the Compact with them. It might be provided also, that they should receive one or two days fish in a Week, when to be had; this would be a saving to the public, (the Lakes and most of the Waters of the Ohio & Mississippi abounding with Fish) and would be no disservice to the Soldier.
A proper recruiting fund should be established; from which the Regiment may always be kept complete.
The Garrisons should be changed as often as it can be done with convenience; long continuance in the same place is injurious. Acquaintances are made, Connections formed, and habits acquired, which often prove very detrimental to the service. By this means, public duty is made to yield to interested pursuits, and real abuses are the Result. To avoid these Evils, I would propose, that there should be a change made in every Regiment once a Year, and one Regiment with another every two Years.
An Ordinance for the service of Troops in Garrison, should be annexed to our present Regulations for the order & discipline of the Army. The latter should be revised, corrected & enlarged so as to form a Basis of Discipline under all circumstances for Continental Troops, and, as far as they will apply, to the Militia also: that one uniform system may pervade all the States.
As a peace establishment may be considered as a change in, if not the Commencement of our Military system, it will be the proper time, to introduce new and beneficial regulations, and to expunge all customs, which from experience have been found unproductive of general good. Among the latter I would ask, if promotion by Seniority is not one? That it is a good general rule admits of no doubt, but that it should be an invariable one, is in my opinion wrong. It cools, if it does not destroy, the incentives to Military Pride and Heroic Actions. On the one hand, the sluggard, who keeps within the verge of his duty, has nothing to fear. On the other hand, the enterprising Spirit has nothing to expect. Whereas, if promotion was the sure reward of Merit, all would contend for Rank and the service would be benefited by their Struggles for Promotion. In establishing a mode by which this is to be done, and from which nothing is to be expected, or apprehended, either from favour or prejudice, lies the difficulty. Perhaps, reserving to Congress the right inherent in Sovereignties, of making all Promotions, A Board of superior Officers, appointed to receive and examine the claims to promotions out of common course, of any Officer, whether founded on particular merit, or extra service, and to report their opinion thereon to Congress; might prove a likely means of doing justice. It would certainly give a Spur to Emulation, without endangering the rights, or just pretentions of the Officers.
Before I close my observations under this head, of a regular force, and the Establishment of Posts, it is necessary for me to observe, that, in fixing a Post at the North End of Lake Champlain I had three things in view. The Absolute Command of the entrance into the Lake from Canada. A cover to the Settlements on the New Hampshire Grants and the prevention of any illicit intercourse thro’ that Channel. But, if it is known, or should be found, that the 45th Degree crosses the Lake South of any spot which will command the entrance into it, the primary object fails; And it then becomes a question whether any place beyond Ticonderoga or Crown Point is eligible.
Altho’ it may be somewhat foreign to, and yet not altogether unconnected with the present subject, I must beg leave, from the importance of the object, as it appears to my mind, and for the advantages which I think would result from it to the United States, to hint, the propriety of Congress taking some early steps, by a liberal treatment, to gain the affections of the French settlements of Detroit, those of the Illinois and other back Countries. Such a measure would not only hold out great encouragement to the Inhabitants already on those lands, who will doubtless make very useful and valuable subjects of the United States; but would probably make deep and conciliatory impressions on their friends in the British settlements, and prove a means of drawing thither great numbers of Canadian Emigrants, who, under proper Regulations and establishments of Civil Government, would make a hardy and industruous race of Settlers on that Frontier; and who, by forming a barrier against the Indians, would give great security to the Infant settlement, which, soon after the close of the War, will probably be forming in the back Country.
I come next in the order I have prescribed myself, to treat of the Arrangements necessary for placing the Militia of the Continent on a respectable footing for the defence of the Empire and in speaking of this great Bulwark of our Liberties and independence, I shall claim the indulgence of suggesting whatever general observations may occur from experience and reflection with the greater freedom, from a conviction of the importance of the subject; being persuaded, that the immediate safety and future tranquility of this extensive Continent depend in a great measure upon the peace Establishment now in contemplation; and being convinced at the same time, that the only probable means of preventing insult or hostility for any length of time and from being exempted from the consequent calamities of War, is to put the National Militia in such a condition as that they may appear truly respectable in the Eyes of our Friends and formidable to those who would otherwise become our Enemies.
Were it not totally unnecessary and superfluous to adduce arguments to prove what is conceded on all hands the Policy and expediency of resting the protection of the Country on a respectable and well established Militia, we might not only shew the propriety of the measure from our peculiar local situation, but we might have recourse to the Histories of Greece and Rome in their most virtuous and Patrioic ages to demonstrate the Utility of such Establishments. Then passing by the Mercinary Armies, which have at one time or another subverted the liberties of allmost all the Countries they have been raised to defend, we might see, with admiration, the Freedom and Independence of Switzerland supported for Centuries, in the midst of powerful and jealous neighbours, by means of a hardy and well organized Militia. We might also derive useful lessons of a similar kind from other Nations of Europe, but I believe it will be found, the People of this Continent are too well acquainted with the Merits of the subject to require information or example. I shall therefore proceed to point out some general outlines of their duty, and conclude this head with a few particular observations on the regulation which I conceive ought to be immediately adopted by the States at the instance & recommendation of Congress.
It may be laid down, as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a Short Notice on any very interesting Emergency, for these purposes they ought to be duly organized into Commands of the same formation; (it is not of very great importance, whether the Regiments are large or small, provided a sameness prevails in the strength and composition of them and I do not know that a better establishment, than that under which the Continental Troops now are, can be adopted.) They ought to be regularly Mustered and trained, and to have their Arms and Accoutrements inspected at certain appointed times, not less than once or twice in the course of every year but as it is obvious, amongst such a Multitude of People (who may indeed be useful for temporary service) there must be a great number, who from domestic Circumstances, bodily defects, natural awkwardness or disinclination, can never acquire the habits of Soldiers; but on the contrary will injure the appearance of any body of Troops to which they are attached, and as there are a sufficient proportion of able bodied young Men, between the Age of 18 and 25, who, from a natural fondness for Military parade (which passion is almost ever prevalent at that period of life) might easily be enlisted or drafted to form a Corps in every State, capable of resisting any sudden impression which might be attempted by a foreign Enemy, while the remainder of the National forces would have time to Assemble and make preparations for the Field. I would wish therefore, that the former, being considered as a denier resort, reserved for some great occasion, a judicious system might be adopted for forming and placing the latter on the best possible Establishment. And that while the Men of this description shall be viewed as the Van and flower of the American Forces, ever ready for Action and zealous to be employed whenever it may become necessary in the service of their Country; they should meet with such exemptions, privileges or distinctions, as might tend to keep alive a true Military pride, a nice sense of honour, and a patriotic regard for the public. Such sentiments, indeed, ought to be instilled into our Youth, with their earliest years, to be cherished and inculcated as frequently & forcibly as possible.
It is not for me to decide positively, whether it will be ultimately most interesting to the happiness and safety of the United States, to form this Class of Soldiers into a kind of Continental Militia, selecting every 10th 15th or 20th Man from the Rolls of each State for the purpose; Organizing, Officering and Commissioning those Corps upon the same principle as is now practiced in the Continental Army. Whether it will be best to comprehend in this body, all the Men fit for service between some given Age and no others, for example between 18 and 25 or some similar description, or whether it will be preferable in every Regiment of the proposed Establishment to have one additional Company inlisted or drafted from the best Men for 3, 5, or 7 Years and distinguished by the name of the additional or light Infantry Company, always to be kept complete. These Companies might then be drawn together occasionally and formed into particular Battalions or Regiments under Field Officers appointed for that Service. One or other of these plans I think will be found indispensably necessary, if we are in earnest to have an efficient force ready for Action at a moments Warning. And I cannot conceal my private sentiment, that the formation of additional, or light Companies will be most consistent with the genius of our Countrymen and perhaps in their opinion most consonant to the spirit of our Constitution.
I shall not contend for names or forms, it will be altogether essential, and it will be sufficient that perfect Uniformity should be established throughout the Continent, and pervade, as far as possible, every Corps, whether of standing Troops or Militia, and of whatever denomination they may be. To avoid the confusion of a contrary practice, and to produce the happy consequences which will attend a uniform system of Service, in case Troops from the different parts of the Continent shall ever be brought to Act together again, I would beg leave to propose that Congress should employ some able hand, to digest a Code of Military Rules and regulations, calculated immediately for the Militia and other Troops of the United States: And as it should seem the present system, by being a little simplified, altered, and improved, might be very well adopted to the purpose; I would take the liberty of recommending, that measures should be immediately taken for the accomplishment of this interesting business, and that an Inspector General should be appointed to superintend the execution of the proposed regulations in the several States.
Congress having fixed upon a proper plan to be established, having caused the Regulations to be compiled, having approved, Printed and distributed them to every General Field Officer, Captain and Adjutant of Militia, will doubtless have taken care, that whenever the system shall be adopted by the States the encouragement on the one hand, and the fines and penalties on the other will occasion an universal and punctual compliance therewith.
Before I close my remarks on the establishment of our National Militia, which is to be the future guardian of those rights & that Independence, which have been maintain’d so gloriously, by the fortitude and perseverance of our Countrymen, I shall descend a little more minutely to the interior arrangements, and sum up what I have to say on this head with the following Positions.
1st That it appears to me extremely necessary there should be an Adjutant General appointed in each State, with such Assistants as may be necessary for communicating the Orders of the Commander in Chief of the State, making the details, collecting the Returns & performing every other duty incident to that Office. A duplicate of the Annual Returns should always be lodged in the War Office by the 25th of Decr in every year, for the information of Congress; with any other reports that may be judged expedient. The Adjutant Generals and Assistants to be considered as the deputies of the Inspector General, and to assist him in carrying the system of Discipline into effect.
2d That every Militia Officer should make himself acquainted with the plan of Discipline, within a limited time, or forfeit his Commission, for it is in vain to expect the improvement of the Men, while the Officers remain ignorant, which many of them will do, unless Government will make and enforce such a Regulation.
3dly That the formation of the Troops ought to be perfectly simple and entirely uniform, for example each Regiment should be composed of two Battalions, each Battalion to consist of 4 Companies and each Company as at present of
1 Captain
1 Lieutenant
1 Ensign
5 Sergeants
3 Corporals
2 Music
65 Privates
Two Battalions should form a Regiment four Regts a Brigade and two Brigades a Division. This might be the general formation: but as I before observed, I conceive it will be eligible to select from the district forming a Regiment, the flower of the young Men to compose an additional or light Company to every Regiment, for the purposes before specified, which undoubtedly ought to be the case unless something like a Continental Militia shall be instituted. To each Division two Troops of Cavalry and two Companies of Artillery might also be annexed, but no Independent or Volunteer Companies foreign to the Establishment should be tolerated.
4thly It is also indispensable that such a proportion of the Militia (under whatever discription they are comprehended) as are always to be held in readiness for service, nearly in the same manner the Minute Men formerly were, should be exercised at least from 12 to 25 days in year, part of the time in Company, part in Battalion and part in Brigade, in the latter case, by forming a Camp, their Discipline would be greatly promoted, and their Ideas raised, as near as possible, to real service; Twenty five days might be divided thus, ten days for training in squads, half Companies and Companies, ten in Battalion and five in Brigade.
5thly While in the Field or on actual duty, there should not only be a Compensation for the time thus spent, but a full allowance of Provisions Straw, Camp Equipage &c.; it is also of so great consequence that there should be, a perfect similarity in the Arms and Accoutrements, that they ought to be furnished, in the first instance by the public, if they cannot be obtained in any other way, some kind of Regimentals or Uniform Clothing (however cheap or course they may be) are also highly requisite and should be provided for such occasions. Nor is it unimportant that every Article should be stamped with the appearance of regularity; and especially that all the Articles of public property should be numbered, marked or branded with the name of the Regiment or Corps that they may be properly accounted for.
6thly In addition to the Continental Arsenals, which will be treated of under the next head. Every State ought to Establish Magazines of its own, containing Arms, Accoutrements, Ammunion, all kinds of Camp Equipage and Warlike Stores, and from which the Militia or any part of them should be supplied whenever they are call’d into the Field.
7thly It is likewise much to be wished, that it might be made agreeable to Officers who have served in the Army, to accept Commands in the Militia; that they might be appointed to them so far as can be done without creating uneasiness and jealousy, and that the principle Characters in the Community would give a countenance to Military improvements, by being present at public reviews and Exhibitions, and by bringing into estimation amongst their fellow Citizens, those who appear fond of cultivating Military knowledge and who excel in the Exercise of Arms. By giving such a tone to our Establishment; by making it universally reputable to bear Arms & disgraceful to decline having a share in the performance of Military duties; in fine, by keeping up in Peace "a well regulated, and disciplined Militia," we shall take the fairest and best method to preserve, for a long time to come, the happiness, dignity and Independence of our Country.
With regard to the third Head in Contemplation, to wit. the "Establishment of Arsenals of all kinds of Military Stores." I will only observe, that having some time since seen a plan of the Secretary at War, which went fully into the discussion of this branch of Arrangement, and appeared (as well as I can, at this time recollect) to be in general perfectly well founded, little more need be said on the subject, especially as I have been given to understand the plan has been lately considerably improved and laid before Congress for their approbation; And indeed there is only one or two points in which I could wish to suggest any Alteration.
According to my recollection, five grand Magazines are proposed by the Secretary at War, one of which to be fixed at West Point. Now, as West Point is considered not only by our selves, but by all who have the least knowledge of the Country, as a post of the greatest importance, as it may in time of Peace, from its situation on the Water be somewhat obnoxious to surprise or Coup de Main and as it would doubtless be a first object with any Nation which might commence a War against the United States, to seize that Post and occupy or destroy the Stores, it appears to me, that we ought particularly to guard against such an event, so far as may be practicable, and to remove some part of the Allurements to enterprise, by establishing the grand Arsenals in the Interior part of the Country, leaving only to West Point an adequate supply for its defence in almost any extremity.
I take the liberty also to submit to the consideration of the Committee, whether, instead of five great Arsenals, it would not be less expensive and equally convenient & advantageous to fix three general Deposits, one for the Southern, one for the Middle and one for the Eastern States, including New York, in each of which there might be deposited, Arms, Ammunition, Field Artillery, and Camp Equipage for thirty thousand Men, Also one hundred heavy Cannon and Mortars, and all the Apparatus of a Seige, with a sufficiency of Ammunition.
Under the fourth General Division of the subject, it was proposed to consider the Establishment of Military Academies and Manufacturies, as the means of preserving that knowledge and being possessed of those Warlike Stores, which are essential to the support of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States. But as the Baron Steuben has thrown together his Ideas very largely on these Articles, which he had communicated to me previous to their being sent to the secretary at War, and which being now lodged at the War Office, I imagine have also been submitted to the inspection of the Committee, I shall therefore have the less occasion for entering into the detail, and may, without impropriety, be the more concise in my own observations.
That an Institution calculated to keep alive and diffuse the knowledge of the Military Art would be highly expedient, and that some kinds of Military Manufactories and Elaboratories may and ought to be established, will not admit a doubt; but how far we are able at this time to go into great and expensive Arrangements and whether the greater part of the Military Apparatus and Stores which will be wanted can be imported or Manufactured, in the cheapest and best manner: I leave those to whom the observations are to be submitted, to determine, as being more competent, to the decision than I can pretend to be. I must however mention some things, which I think cannot be dispensed with under the present or any other circumstances; Until a more perfect system of Education can be adopted, I would propose that Provision should be made at some Post or Posts where the principle Engineers and Artillerists shall be stationed, for instructing a certain number of young Gentlemen in the Theory of the Art of War, particularly in all those branches of service which belong to the Artillery and Engineering Departments. Which, from the affinity they bear to each other, and the advantages which I think would result from the measure, I would have blended together; And as this species of knowledge will render them much more accomplished and capable of performing the duties of Officers, even in the Infantry or any other Corps whatsoever, I conceive that appointments to vacancies in the Established Regiments, ought to be made from the candidates who shall have completed their course of Military Studies and Exercises. As it does in an essential manner qualify them for the duties of Garrisons, which will be the principal, if not only service in which our Troops can be employed in time of Peace and besides the Regiments of Infantry by this means will become in time a nursery from whence a number of Officers for Artillery and Engineering may be drawn on any great or sudden occasion.
Of so great importance is it to preserve the knowledge which has been acquired thro’ the various Stages of a long and arduous service, that I cannot conclude without repeating the necessity of the proposed Institution, unless we intend to let the Science become extinct, and to depend entirely upon the Foreigners for their friendly aid, if ever we should again be involved in Hostility. For it must be understood, that a Corps of able Engineers and expert Artillerists cannot be raised in a day, nor made such by any exertions, in the same time, which it would take to form an excellent body of Infantry from a well regulated Militia.
And as to Manufactories and Elaboratories it is my opinion that if we should not be able to go largely into the business at present, we should nevertheless have a reference to such establishments hereafter, and in the mean time that we ought to have such works carried on, wherever our principal Arsenals may be fixed, as will not only be sufficient to repair and keep in good order the Arms, Artillery, Stores &c. of the Post, but shall also extend to Founderies and some other essential matters.
Thus have I given my sentiments without reserve on the four different heads into which the subject seemed naturally to divide itself, as amply as my numerous avocations and various duties would permit. Happy shall I be, if any thing I have suggested may be found of use in forming an Establishment which will maintain the lasting Peace, Happiness and Independence of the United States.
G. Washington
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