1. Military and Society Oct 22, 2014

2. From Conscription to volunteer military Conscription in United States Volunteer military (1973-present) Motivation Qualifications Longer term of service

3. Military and Society Who serves? Greater separation between military and society Military and decision makers Military and society Pressures on soldiers Benefits of military service? Sense of national unity Effect on later life

4. Wartime Deaths: Harvard graduates Harvard All WWI373117,000 Vietnam2258,000 Spanish American (1898) 102,500 Iraq/Afghanistan 16,500

5. Alexis de Tocqueville (1830s) “When a military spirit forsakes a people, the profession of arms immediately ceases to be held in honor and military men fall to the lowest rank of the public servants; they are little esteemed and no longer understood. …. the men who enter the army are no longer those of the highest, but of the lowest class. …. the best part of the nation shuns the military profession because that profession is not honored, and the profession is not honored because the best part of the nation has ceased to follow it. It is then no matter of surprise that democratic armies are often restless, ill-tempered, and dissatisfied with their lot.... The soldier feels that he occupies an inferior position, and his wounded pride either stimulates his taste for hostilities that would render his services necessary or gives him a desire for revolution, during which he may hope to win by force of arms the political influence and personal importance now denied him.”