War

Steve Dubner, from the New York Times, wrote a great little article that listed the opinions about war of 12 West Point cadets. They were all members of the Canterbury Club (an Episcopal fellowship group.) I posted the entire article as well as my reflections on my blog, but I wanted to share my reflections here as well.

As a West Point graduate, I agree with Stephen Dubner’s assessment. When I was there, and I’m sure it is still true, West Point did a very good job of creating thoughtful and critically thinking leaders. It is not a place of simple, monolithic answers. We were taught to do the honorable, ethical thing, even if it cost us personally. Even if it meant disobeying orders we believed to be illegal. It was also made clear to us that we did not get to choose when or where the military would be deployed. We were committing ourselves to submit to the will of the civilian government. This may sound crazy to some people, because it meant we would be willing to serve in wars that we might think were wrong. But the alternative would be to have a military that chose when it would fight. If this happened, then the decision to go to war would be separated from the checks and balances inherent in our democratic system of government, and you can quickly see how that is a bad idea. I can’t think of any other arena where people are asked to be as self-giving as they are in the military. And ours is an all-volunteer military.

But because these heroes who serve on our behalf do not get to choose where they are deployed, it makes it even more important for us, the civilian population, to be as careful as possible when we deploy troops. The first way we “support our troops” is to be as conservative as possible when we ask them to die, and to kill, for us.

You can find Dibner’s original article [HERE].