Civil/Military Relations part 1

Robert Kaplan, my hero, writes on how the military looks today:

The loss of a warrior mentality and the rise of universal values seem to be features of all stable, Western-style middle-class democracies. Witness our situation. The Army Reserve is desperate for officers, yet there is little urge among American elites to volunteer. Thus our military takes on more of a regional caste. …But a volunteer military is necessarily dominated by those regions with an old-fashioned fighting ethos: the South and the adjacent Bible Belts of the southern Midwest and Great Plains. Marine and Army infantry units, and in particular Army Special Forces A-teams, manifest a proclivity for volunteers from the states of the former Confederacy, as well as Irish and Hispanics from poorer, more culturally conservative sections of coastal cities. In sum, the American military has become in some respects a higher-quality version of what it was on the eve of World War II. The Greatest Generation may have come from all walks of life and all regions of the country, but when it got to boot camp its trainers were professional soldiers, often with Southern accents, intent on doing their thirty years.

Hailing from a region “with an old-fashioned fighting ethos,” I agree with this entirely. My question is: why, in this day in age, do the militant South, and West endure and are reflected as such in the armed forces? I’ve served with folks from all over the place, from Ohio, Idaho, New York, New Jersey, and even Massachusetts, that weren’t “the South.” While I noticed no difference between soldiers individually, the predominance of guys from the South does exist. As far as the lack of individuals from “elite” segments of society, I have to agree too. I have not served with anyone who graduated an Ivy League school, but I’ve heard rumors of their existence. (Hey, General Petraeus did go to Princeton for his Master’s…)

Anyway, Kaplan points out some of the current issues surrounding our civil/military relations debate. The military may look different than the society it fights for, but Kaplan concludes:

…the more that civilization evolves—with its own mass media, non-governmental organizations and professional class—the less credit and sympathy it grants to the American troops who at times risk their lives for it.

Right now America supports the troops. I hope it stays that way as long as America asks the troops to fight.