Lieutenant Commander Mark Swinger, U.S. Navy-Second Lieutenant McGee makes many good points on how we as a naval service need to do a better job narrowing the gap between the military and civilian population. However, some of the conclusions he draws in comparing our governmental policies and armed forces to those of 1914 are somewhat flawed. The assertion that "Pre-World War I European militaries had become increasingly professionalized" really only applied to the very small, yet highly professional British Army. Mustering around 100,000 men, the all-volunteer British Expeditionary Force was all but annihilated by the First Battle of Ypres in early October 1914. After those murderous opening two months of the war, the British Secretary of War, Lord Kitchener, initiated a massive recruiting campaign that led to the enlistment of millions of Britons.
展开▼
