The right to keep and bear arms would enable Americans to resist tyranny with force rather than meekly accept the inevitable. Here are 10 of the most dangerous: 1. The inability to manage risk prudently and underwrite smart risk-taking by subordinate leaders deeply corrodes the trust that enables mission command the Armys warfighting philosophy built around decentralized command and control. He has advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on Fox News Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitanos show Freedom Watch. Had Akam persevered beyond the end date of major combat operations in these theaters of war, he might have seen how institutions, even tribal-based ones, can reach a tipping point where self-awareness drives forward positive change, at least in terms of the British Armys collective mindset. To right this balance, the Army should reenergize the concept of power down, pioneered by Lt. Gen. Walter Ulmer in the 1980s. "He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures." ~ Declaration of Independence The opponents of the Constitution, which history has mischaracterized as Anti-Federalists, had numerous reasons for rejecting the proposed Constitution. It includes 50 recommendations to help the U.S. Army prepare for the long-term future while still dominating a broad range of current and near-term conflicts. There was the series of military dictatorships that the CIA helped install into power in Guatemala, where Guatemalan troops, many of whom had been trained by the U.S. military, faithfully carried out the orders of their superiors, torturing and massacring hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans who were resisting the tyranny. Throughout history, the threat of military coupgovernments deposed from within by the very forces raised to protect themhas been a frequent concern. That armys more frequent use of red-teaming and its commitment to challenging group think were born out of the long and expensive inquiry presided over by the respected former civil servant Sir John Chilcot. Both are equally destructive to liberty, for foreign wars demand enormous expenditures of the taxpayers money, require the sacrifice of life or limb of thousands of the countrys young men, and result in the suppression of civil liberties at home. The senior British officer was proud to witness one of his non-commissioned officers destroying so many of the enemys tanks. The brigade known as the Desert Rats, the same one that had excelled in training in Canada, had taken the city in a major assault less than three weeks after the March 2003 onset of operations in Iraq. He believed that the powers to form and arm the militia, to appoint their officers, and to command their services, are very important; nor ought they in a confederated republic to be lodged, solely, in any one member of the government. To put a check on the federal government, the militia of any state shall not remain in the service of the union, beyond a given period, without the express consent of the state legislature. The Address of the minority in the Pennsylvania ratification convention was very strongly opposed to federal control over state militias: The absolute unqualified command that Congress have over the militia may be made instrumental to the destruction of all liberty, both public and private; whether of a personal, civil or religious nature. why is it dangerous to have a peacetime army? Secondly, the rights of conscience may be violated, as there is no exemption of those persons who are conscientiously scrupulous of hearing arms. To sign up for Barno and Bensahels Strategic Outpost newsletter, where you can track their articles as well as their public events,click here. The idea that peacetime corrodes and ossifies armies, making them less combat effective, is a central tenet of Simon Akams new book, The Changing of the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11, though what also comes across loud and clear is the debilitating effects of tribalism on what some have referred to as the worlds best little army., All tribes have myths and legends they guard jealously from outside scrutiny. Insecticides, notably pyrethrum, had been used in malaria control prior to DDT. In the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was written by George Mason (17251792) and adopted by the Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1776, it states: That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. On September 21, the Atlantic Council will publish our major report, The Future of the Army: Today, Tomorrow, and the Day After Tomorrow. In 2019, U.S. military expenditure increased by almost 5.3% to $732 billion. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people." Finally, they must put tough new systems in place to vet any newly proposed requirements to ensure that these three standards are always met. Tyrants have uniformly depended upon the latter, at the expense of the former. After the hell my Squad Leader's been giving me, I respect him less, not more. What is there in the new proposed constitution to prevent his being dragged like a Prussian soldier to the camp and there compelled to bear arms? Those cultural changes must happen if the U.S. Army is to remain the best in the world over the next decades and beyond. Few, if any, of them is going to question the constitutionality of such orders at the height of a major crisis any more than they did the presidents order to invade Iraq. The danger, of course, is some big crisis by which the president feels the need to protect national security by doing the types of things that those U.S.-supported tyrannical regimes have done to their citizenry. Patrick Henry (17361799), in his June 5 speech in the Virginia ratifying convention against adopting the Constitution, likewise denigrated standing armies: A standing army we shall have, also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny; and how are you to punish them? 10 reasons US military strength remains essential. Views expressed in this review are his own. So there they are, five reasons not to join the military. What did the Anti-Federalists mean by a militia? Reid, "Tongues of Conscience. All quotations from the Anti-Federalists are taken from Regnery edition of The Anti-Federalists: Selected Writings and Speeches, edited by Bruce Frohnen. You can follow him, Exchange, Sovereignty, and Indian-Anglo Relations, Raid or Trade? Why can't the Army teach Infantry NCOs to actually lead instead of just torturing us? We cannot annex the Philippines without a large increase in our standing army. In the decade before the Declaration of Independence, Parliament passed a series of acts intended to raise money within the colonies. In his third letter, he lamented that under the new Constitution Congress will have unlimited power to raise armies, and to engage officers and men for any number of years. He then voiced his objection to standing armies: I see so many men in American fond of a standing army, and especially among those who probably will have a large share in administering the federal system; it is very evident to me, that we shall have a large standing army as soon as the monies to support them can be possibly found. This article is republished with permission from the AntiWar blog. GOD has so separated us by an extensive ocean from the rest of mankind, he hath so liberally endowed us with privileges, and so abundantly taught us to esteem them precious, it would be impossible, while we retain our integrity and advert to first principles, for any nation whatever to subdue us. If you want to take advantage of any of these military benefits or the numerous others the military has to offer, you need to talk with a recruiter. The initiative of junior leaders is also being threatened by technology that increasingly enables senior leaders to micromanage even small unit actions, from peacetime gunnery qualifications to combat assaults on enemy compounds. Akams detailed analysis goes some way to proving the old adage that regular armies may have the watches, but irregular adversaries have all the time in the world. Readers learn about tank crews who were unable to communicate within their vehicles, which then became bogged down and threw their tracks without much intervention from the enemy. What is intriguing about all these frequently chaotic episodes is the tendency of some units to embellish stories about their experiences on the Iraqi frontline. He spent a brief spell in the Scots Dragoon Guards while on a gap year commission, an internship open to young men and women to give them a taste of military life. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Learn about the benefits of serving your country, paying for school, military career paths, and more: sign up now and hear from a recruiter near you. While its ideal purpose is to create peace, we do not live in a world of ideals. Historians generally conclude that a full-blown coup detat was never a realistic possibility, but the incident did little to assuage contemporary concerns about the dangers posed by a standing army. What assurances have they that either their taxes will not be exacted but in the greatest emergencies, and then sparingly, or that standing armies will be raised and supported for the very plausible purpose only of cantoning them upon their frontiers? The result is a pattern of pervasive dishonesty, false reporting, and widespread rationalization of cheating across the service. In his opening chapter about the base in Canada, he writes that the tension between regiment and brigade was real, and it was something at least in part rooted in class, and at risk of festering. Even though the British Army has been seen as something of a social leveler, particularly its officer corps, Akam takes a contrary view, pointing out the fact that in a Scottish regiment none of the direct-entry officers have Scottish accents and that they spend much of their spare time indulging in the communion drink of Pol Roger champagne. This involved decentralized leadership based upon trust in subordinates and greater autonomy of junior leaders in garrison as well as combat. A near-universal assumption of the founding generation was the danger posed by a standing military force. With the benefit of hindsight, it would appear that subsequent U.S. administrations were not beyond entering into such pacts, as the 2020 deal between the United States and the Taliban demonstrates. Virtually none of todays garrison procedures from auto safety checklists to high level-directed wear of reflective belts (beautifully mocked in the Duffel Blog) are consistent with this philosophy. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty, he argued. In fact, they dont even consider them to be tyrannies. No man that loves his country could object to their being raised for the first of these causes, but for the last it cannot be necessary. All too often the standing armies of Europe were regarded as, at best, a rationale for imposing high taxes, and, at worst, a means to control the civilian population and extort its wealth.. generous educational benefits provided by the Post-9/11 G.I. If you don't want to take advantage of the military paying 100% of your tuition while on active duty and giving you upward of $50,000 through the GI Bill to use on active duty or after you get out, then the military is not for you. Pararescue. In the opening chapters of the book, he details the curious rituals performed in the barracks and mess halls of the Scots Dragoon Guards. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 12. Rather than the presence of the U.S. military guaranteeing peace and stability throughout the world, the presence of the U.S. military more often than not is the cause of war and instability around the globe. Our most important recommendations are not about fielding advanced weaponry, improving urban training, or even retaining the best talent (though those are all necessary). As long as the army stands, peace is unlikely to be achieved or long-lasting. In the book, Akam reveals the overconfidence that flows from fighting units wedded to tradition working out which of these inheritances have value in the modern world and which do not. For Akam, mythmaking was already underway in the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, with artists, journalists, and writers helping to convey a more glory-filled account of operations than was actually the case. There's good news and bad news here. Watch Professor Whitman Ridgway analyze the Bill of Rights in an Example of Historical Thinking. The militia was always regarded as such until the Militia Act of 1903, which created the modern National Guard, and the rise of gun-control advocates, who try to keep guns out of the hands of the citizenry by redefining the Second Amendment as merely affirming the states right to form National Guard-like militias. Actual or would-be interventions . Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. They might have written that federal job description for you. 5. Now, consider the following statement by former U.S. soldier Kayla Williams in an op-ed in last Fridays Guardian: A decade ago, I took part of the initial invasion of Iraq. Thats because people dont want to confront what is a very discomforting thought: that a tyrannical regime uses its standing army to carry out and enforce its tyranny. Anything that provokes such self-awareness is good for institutions, even tribal ones. Yet the Army's overweening approach to safety has created a widespread culture of near-total risk aversion when troops are not in combat. Teachinghistory.org Outreach | Privacy Policy, The power of a standing army, Adams counseled, should be watched with a jealous Eye.. Instead, the support and defense of such regimes has always been considered to be part and parcel of working with our partners and allies in the defense of national security. As Williams points out in her op-ed, the soldiers job is to obey the orders of his president, not determine the rightness of them or their constitutionality. The places the United States must police are, in . There are reasons to be skeptical. Violence against the troops escalated and reached a strategic tipping point in 2007. Previous article by Laurence M. Vance: Ron Paul, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, The Anti-Federalists: Selected Writings and Speeches, War, Christianity, and the State: Essays on the Follies of Christian Militarism, War, Empire, and the Military: Essays on the Follies of War and U.S. Foreign Policy, King James, His Bible, and Its Translators, CNN Host Shockingly Blasts Teachers Union Boss Over School Closure Lies, Fox Newss Existential Crisis After Tucker Carlsons Firing and Audience Flees, with Buck Sexton, ABC News Admits It Censored RFK Jr. Interview For False Claims About Covid-19 Vaccines, Documenting the Greatest Crime in History, New Lyme Disease mRNA Vaccines Being Developed for Humans, How Not to Solve the Boys Wanting to Use the Girls Restroom Conundrum, The Gnostic Parasite I James Lindsay New Discourses, Nations Ditch Dollars Thats The Real Debt Ceiling. Right in your inbox. Standing armies, after all, often do not only practice defense. Some even point to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which limits the power of the national government to use the military for law enforcement purposes. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. These measures would help rising Army leaders think more creatively about the wide range of challenges facing the Army and contribute more effectively at the strategic level within the Department of Defense or the wider interagency arena. British General Thomas Gage imposed "martial law" on the inhabitants of Boston by means of a "standing army"April 19, 1775. You absolutely do not want to have a job that gives you any kind of vacation time. The eleventh one concerns the subject at hand: That the power of organizing, arming and disciplining the militia (the manner of disciplining the militia to be prescribed by Congress) remain with the individual states, and that Congress shall not have authority to call or march any of the militia out of their own state, without the consent of such state, and for such length of time only as such state shall agree. Brutus, no. Yet on the future battlefield, where communications networks are likely to be degraded, even Army junior leaders will have to be comfortable operating with unparalleled autonomy, guided only by their understanding of mission and intent. Document 23. For these efforts to succeed, they must be led from the top while also engaging junior soldiers and leaders to identify roadblocks to reform and generate solutions. The military has installations all over the world and gives its members opportunities to travel like no other company in the world. This was sprayed on the inside walls of houses where the Anopheles mosquito rests after feeding. It is very true, that the celebrated Mr. Wilson, a member of the Convention, and who we may suppose breathes, in some measure, the spirit of that body, tells you, it [a standing army] is for the purpose of forming cantonments upon your frontiers, and for the dignity and safety of your country, as it respects foreign nations. This brings out another understanding that the humans are not evolved species because they have a totally different nature from any of the species which are suppose. Keep in mind, after all, that the Constitution requires the president to secure a declaration of war from Congress as a prerequisite to waging war. This is why labor leader Samuel Gompers, a member of the Anti-Imperialist League, formed in 1898 in the midst of the Spanish-American War, could say: I propose stating as succinctly as possible the grounds of our opposition to the so-called policy of imperialism and expansion. Those with a job related to the military have an incentive to keep their job. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people. Besides being useless, as having no object of employment, they are inconvenient and expensive. Akam also peels back some of the class-based character of the British Army. 2020 was THE year to learn valuable lessons in several fields of knowledge, this was one of those lessons. But in so doing, although the magnanimity of their minds will be extinguished, yet the meaner passions of resentment and revenge will be increased, and these in turn will be the ready and obedient instruments of despotism to enslave the others; and that with an irritated vengeance. Answer (1 of 5): By asking this question you are making a point that other species besides humans are not dangerous and destructive. The oath that the soldier takes to support and defend the Constitution is actually a sham. Soldiering is unique, Akam informs us. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images. U.S. Air Force pararescuemen and a simulated 'survivor' watch as an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter comes in for a landing. They should seek input from their subordinates to better understand the demands that promote unethical reporting and decision-making across the force. The Federalist Papers. Fitness expert Stew Smith demonstrates some medicine ball workouts. In both todays and tomorrows world, however, effective organizations must make decisions almost instantaneously in response to data that flows at the speed of light. In most cases, they probably also desire to see the scope of their power expanded and their pay increased. 4. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. For example, there was the Pinochet military dictatorship, which the U.S. national-security state helped install into power. You want an education and have at least $100,000 just sitting around for you to use. Although their central argument concerned the danger to liberty from a strong central government, they also wrote extensively against the Constitutions provision for a standing army and federal control over the militia. As they are a body of men exempt from the common occupations of social life, having an interest different from the rest of the community, they wanton in the lap of ease and indolence, without feeling the duties, which arise from the political connection, though drawing their subsistence from the bosom of the state. The Quartering Act, which required colonists to provide housing and provisions for troops in their own buildings, was another obnoxious symbol of the corrupting power represented by the army. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. Most of the disincentives for war disappeared. Consider why our American ancestors opposed a standing army for our nation: James Madison: A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. In Madisons statement to the Convention, it referred not to the literal notion of armies marching the citizenry through the streets in shackles but to a kind of metaphorical slavery.
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