Last week in a diary about the Air Force Academy, a fellow Kossack let me know that the job of the Air Force is to 'bomb away.' I disagreed. He let me know again that I was wrong.
So, what's your opinion. What is the job of the Air Force? or the Army? or the Navy? or the Marines? or the Coast Guard? Are we basically all cogs in a war machine or are we something different?
We welcome the DailyKos community to join in this conversation... do you have an opinion about our military mission(s)?
First, let's look at the oaths of office.
First, the enlisted corp:
"I, XXXXXXXXXX, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
Next, the officer corp; note that officers to do not swear to obey:
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.[1]
The oath for the officers of the National Guard is similar but includes provisions to obey the commands of the Governor as well as those of the President of the United States.
Now let's look at the Constitution. This is what Congress is charged with:
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
They can meet their goals by declaring war but the Constitution gives wide leeway for the use of our military - for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States. Our military can do more than go to war if so directed by Congress.
I think we can all agree that no one promises to kick anyone's butt, to kill tons of people, to bomb away, to murder innocent children, etc., etc. etc. Nor does our Constitution say the military is only good for those things.
When we fall prey to those constructs, to that framing of the military, we fall prey to the far right wing of the Republican Party. It's expected that left wing liberals will make our military sound like the only thing they are good for is bombing the hell out of a country or wreaking havoc with our ground troops - baby killers, anyone?
If we truly believe that our military is more than that, then we need to start using frames of reference that show we believe it. Yes, we do bomb. Yes, we do kill. Is that the be all, end all of our mission? Hell, no. If it was, we wouldn't recruit a volunteer force in the numbers that we do. If my husband had believed that his job would only support the killing of people through the dropping of bombs, I have my doubts if he would have joined the service.
If we have any hope of changing the current military industrial complex, we need to start using a different language to speak about our military. We want the military to support peace - then we can also talk about how we helped in Haiti after the earthquakes, or how we flew in support packages to West Berlin, or howwe saved people during Hurricane Katrina, or how we send exchange students to other countries to develop better and stronger relationships with other nations.
Remember, the military is a tool of Congress that is led by the President of the United States. Let's call out Congress for poor uses of this tool. And then let's commend them for the beneficial uses as well.
Those of you who hope to encourage military members to vote Democrat need to be among the first to make changes in how you speak and write about the military. Until we consistently respect our military members for ALL that they do and acknowledge that the mission is varied, complicated, and not just about bombing, the Democratic Party in general, and progressives in particular, will fail in their mission to get the military vote. And, the military vote in many instances isn't as conservative as you think... I think most of us identify with being Independent of party ideals. Our vote is not as hard to capture as you might think.
Conversation welcome below - and welcome to this week's open thread!