The Warrior Ethos.
Abstract
This project examines military culture, focusing on the ethos of the warrior subculture. The project is divided into two distinct sections. First is a paper titled The Warrior Ethos in the 21st Century. Second is a series of essays that examine five distinctive warrior traits in detail. The Warrior Ethos in the 21st Century defines the warrior ethos' and identifies five distinctive traits: discipline, sacrifice, cohesion, strength and authority, which the author contends are essential to success in combat but which are distinctive, to some degree, from the society we protect. This ethos is examined, in light of changing technology, changing roles and missions and changing social mores, to determine how, or if, the warrior ethos should change as we enter the 21st century. The five essays on distinctive warrior traits provide background research, primarily anecdotal, to the capstone paper. Both individual and group discipline is identified as essential on the battlefield. Cohesion is defined not only as a result of mutual confidence but also as an intangible result of shared hardship. A warrior's sacrifice - characterized as a relatively high probability of injury or death - is distinctive from the less risky service of the broader military culture. Strength is essential in forms of both physical strength and moral strength. Authority, both the legitimate exercise of authority and the proper respect for positions of authority, is identified at the keystone trait of the entire ethos. The project concludes that, despite tremendous changes in technology and migration of the Army's most visible roles and missions from war-fighting to peace-keeping, the warrior ethos will remain essential to success on the battlefield. Further, the project contends that military culture in general, and the warrior ethos in particular, must be defended from tinkering motivated purely by changes in broader American culture without regard for military effectiveness.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 12, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA366676
Entities
People
- David W. Buckingham
Organizations
- Naval War College