Post Scripts: Military illiteracy should worry us all

Marine Corps General James L. Jones startled some people recently when he called the volunteer armed forces experiment a "success," but adding that compulsory national service might not be such a bad idea. His words woke up a whole bunch of young people who would rather have a good time instead of filling a spot in a military unit. Jones is a ramrod-straight Marine who isn’t afraid to speak his mind in Washington, D.C. where "Cover-Your-Rear" is a daily game.

The general believes Americans are suffering from an increasing "military illiteracy." He says the average citizen these days doesn’t know much about, or cares, about national security. He believes a stint of service in the in the military would be a big help because one of the great ironies of our time is that so many seem indifferent to a U.S. world leadership position that nearly 2 million American patriots suffered death or wounds for in the 20th century.

"As the pendulum swings between the two centuries," said Jones, "a major question is whether our nation will continue to accept its leadership role on the global playing field, as it was bequeathed to us by our ancestors. After all," he said, "we fought for it pretty hard."

I thought a lot about what the general said during the June 6 D-Day publicity. There is no question the military has a tough sales job as military experience shrinks. It used to be almost everybody had an uncle or a father who has served in time of need, washed up pans in mess halls, turned a wrench on an aircraft engine, or who faced an enemy in the bunkers or the jungle.

No longer.

Armed Forces recruiters say fewer than 1 in 10 prospects is related to a military veteran. Even worse, many school principals with memories of the ‘60s and ‘70s are so hostile to the military they won’t let recruiters on school property. Jones has a deeper appreciation than most of the depth of citizen-military misunderstanding.

The general leads a branch of service that has more citizen-soldiers than others do, and the least careerist of all. Some 68% of 172,000 Marines on active duty are 23 years old or younger. So the Corps needs to recruit 39,000 kids a year to maintain top force – and hasn’t had any trouble meeting its quota for the last five years.

But military illiteracy is spreading. Military illiteracy is common in news coverage because so many reporters have never served. We’re more likely to read about gays in uniform rather than how the USS Cole allowed itself to be blown up by terrorists. Our low tolerance for taking casualties was part of Saddam Hussein’s thinking in his invasion of Kuwait. He didn’t believe we’d fight. He was almost right.

So there are many signs that the general’s assessment of civilian illiteracy about military matters is a genuine cause for concern. His suggestion for national military service deserves more careful study than scorn. I recognize that such an idea, coming from a professional soldier, is subject to wide criticism because the young men and women of today prefer to enjoy life to the fullest and leave war to somebody else. That would be nice if everybody on the globe were "good guys."

They aren’t! The U.S. today has more enemies than at any time in our history.

General Jones is right. We cannot permit the services to become a haven for Cover-Your-Rear careerists unable to lead the nation into the uncertainties of the 21st century.