The Dangerous Gap between American Society and Its Military

Abstract

The United States has been at war for over 10 years since that fateful day of September 11, 2001. Despite the surge in American patriotism and resultant overwhelming admiration for the military during these 10 years, a dangerous gap between American society and its military has grown. In the history of the United States no major war has ever been fought with a smaller percentage of its citizens. Has the civilian-military gap developed to the point in America that we now have two distinct classes of citizens? Those who protect the nation and those who live under that protection? Elimination of the draft and implementation of an all-volunteer force in 1973 ushered in a professional military force that some argued would be unrepresentative of American society. Is the all-volunteer force responsible for the gap and have we allowed it to grow to the point that it will adversely impact American national security and could weaken our democracy?

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 20, 2012
Accession Number
ADA561203

Entities

People

  • Drysdale H. Hernandez

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Base Closures
  • Congress
  • Employment
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Governments
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Recreation
  • Security
  • Students
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.