Free Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country by Andrew J. Bacevich Page A

night,
    a pair of jeans that fit just right and the radio up. 11
    Just as in World War II, fried food and pop music still figure as homely surrogates for American freedom. Back then, however, Americans accepted fighting for freedom as their job; today, with freedom still their birthright, they expect someone else to do the fighting.
    This division of labor is no longer working, if it ever did. Sold on the basis of economy, the professional military has turned out to be a bad bargain, fiscally but also politically and morally. As a character, the warrior has proven a costly disappointment. Americans may choose to pretend otherwise, but wishful thinking won’t change the facts.
    Encouraging such wishful thinking will be the institutions that benefit from existing arrangements: the national security state, the military-industrial-congressional complex, and the mushrooming private security sector. Apart from the odd military officer stricken in retirement with Smedley’s syndrome, the people who wield influence within these institutions have no incentive for seeing anything amiss.
    Is the past prologue? If so, here is what Americans can look forward to: more needless wars or shadow conflicts sold by a militarized and irresponsible political elite; more wars mismanaged by an intellectually sclerotic and unimaginative senior officer corps; more wars that exact huge penalties without yielding promised outcomes, with the consequences quickly swept under the rug even as flags flutter, fighter jets swoop overhead, the band plays the “Marines’ Hymn,” and commercials tout the generosity of beer companies doing good works for “the troops.”
    Averting this dismal fate will not be easy. But here’s one place to begin: repeal the three no’s that have defined the American military system since the advent of the all-volunteer force. In place of the three no’s, substitute three affirmative commitments.
    Instead of we will not change , Americans should revert to a concept of citizenship in which privileges entail responsibilities. Among those responsibilities, one in particular stands out: an obligation to contribute to the nation’s defense when the country is at risk or when interests said to be essential to the American way of life require the use of military power.
    Instead of we will not pay , Americans should fund their wars on a pay-as-you-go basis. Payment can take several forms. Citizens can pay higher taxes, forgo benefits, or reduce consumption. The rule of thumb should be this: any war not worth paying for is not worth fighting.
    Instead of we will not bleed , Americans should insist upon fielding a citizen army drawn from all segments of society. The creation of the all-volunteer force reduced the importance of securing a popular buy-in as a prerequisite for military action. In Washington, this latitude fed an appetite for armed intervention. Curbing that appetite will require the restoration of popular leverage in matters relating to war. There is but one way to do this: abandon the model of the warrior-professional with his doppelgänger the private security contractor. General McChrystal’s belated discovery is correct. When it comes to war, citizens should have skin in the game. Only then can they expect to have any say in how (and whether) the game gets played.
    How exactly might recruitment for a citizen army work? One approach is through conscription, with all able-bodied young men and women eligible for service but only some actually selected. Imagine a lottery with Natasha and Malia Obama at age eighteen having the same chance of being drafted as the manicurist’s son or the Walmart clerk’s daughter.
    A less heavy-handed, broader, and more inclusive approach would be through a program of national service in which all able-bodied eighteen-year-olds participate, with some opting for the military and the rest choosing other service opportunities: preserving the environment, caring for the sick and elderly,