by Sam Culper III
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything about Nagl’s Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife. I have some underlined sections and notes in Chapter Three, so I’ll just begin with my thoughts there.
Military as a reflection of society.
General Sir John Hackett was a British officer in World War II, and is quoted as saying:
“The pattern of a parent society is faithfully reflected in the military institutions to which it gives birth.”
The US military finds its strength in doctrine and a competent chain of command, not in diversity. No matter how much civilian leaders try to invert that historical truth, the military will become weaker as the emphasis is shifted from, “I will never accept defeat,” to, “I will never accept homogeneity.” If Hackett is correct, then as society weakens, so will its warriors. 92 Air Force nuclear officers are being investigated for cheating on proficiency exams, or knowingly not reporting those violations. Sexual assault is or has recently been at all-time highs in the Army. Young soldiers enter the Army with questionable morals because they’ve been raised (or not raised) that way. At any rate, I have that quote underlined with a quick note about decay. In the words of Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that.
A note on scholarship.
Nagle writes:
Another theme is the slightly anti-intellectual tilt of the British army. There is a cartoon in the Sandhurst library of a knight in armor speaking to a young cadet carrying a stack of books under his arms. The knight says, “In my day we didn’t read many books, but we hit hard.”
