Look Down the Slippery Slope: Domestic Operations, Outsourcing, and the Erosion of Military Culture

摘要

This paper discusses two simultaneous trends inside America's military culture -- its increasing domestic role and its growing reliance upon defense contractors. First, the appropriate role of a standing military in a democratic society is an issue that has been the focus of significant debate ever since the founding of our republic. The issue becomes even more complex when the military's mission takes on a domestic tone; in other words, domestic military operations can quickly result in diminished public support. Second, recent conflicts have shown a dramatic increase in the extent to which American armed forces rely upon commercial enterprises to achieve military objectives. Despite that fact, there exist certain fundamental differences between uniformed military personnel and their commercially-oriented contractor counterparts; these differences are profound and involve basic issues that go to the heart of military service and the nature of the modern profession of arms. This is true despite the fact that a great many individual contractor employees are extremely patriotic, and have a deep appreciation for men and women in uniform. Together, these two independent trend lines may point to a troubling future that includes a dramatic erosion of U.S. military culture. If that is true, America's long-term ability to project combat power may ultimately falter as well. The paper takes the form of a fictional speech given by a senior Air Force officer to the Air Command and Staff College's (ACSC) class of 2017. In his presentation, the officer (himself a graduate of the ACSC class of 2006) conveys several warnings and historical perspectives to the 2017 class, including the opinions he formed after what he considers to be the 'turning points' of 9/11 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The speech in this paper is a work of fiction; it is a mere literary device designed to discuss the potential impact of certain trends within the American military establishment.