The Colby Echo

Issue date: 3/9/07 Section: Opinions

When a philosophy major/Army brat, fascinated with warrior cultures from the Spartans to the SAS and counting ethics among his primary philosophical interests, sees "War & Morality" in the course catalogue, he enrolls in the damn thing. He also doesn't expect to have sudden, dramatic doubts about the nature of the modern army: the kind his dad's in, the kind that was his third parent for eighteen years. But that's what happened to me within three weeks.

Michael Walzer, author of Just and Unjust Wars, describes modern armies as composed of victims, as opposed to aristocratic duelists and glory-seeking knights of antiquity. Modern soldiers serve states: they don't choose the wars they fight, and as we're seeing today, may even become violently opposed to them. Walzer is rightly troubled, but goes on to decide that sending such victims to risk their lives fighting other, similarly-screwed victims can be worth it for the sake of a community, for a "shared way of living," for "political sovereignty and territorial integrity." States have these rights as individuals have rights not to be killed, robbed, or otherwise violated. Most of us accept that force, sometimes even lethal force, is an acceptable response to such violations. For Walzer, the same applies to states.

I'm all for lethal self-defensive force in the abstract, but I doubt whether anyone should ever really be required to give his or her life for any "greater good." I certainly think people who do are noble, but if you're not around to enjoy the "greater good," then what's in it for you if the war isn't one you're sure you believe in? I appreciate some things about communitarianism-mostly from a selfish standpoint (hmm...)-but surely there are limits.

So what's my solution? We already have a volunteer (more or less) military that does provide significant benefits. Under the current system, making actual wars voluntary ("Hey, who wants to fight this one?") would compromise too much. So can we change the system?

For starters, I advocate a full-populace citizen-soldiery, some hybrid of ancient Greece and modern Israel. Essentially, everyone would do "one weekend a month, two weeks a year," but I'd also want martial training to begin in elementary school and last through college (say, ten hours a week, replacing work-study). High school graduates would probably outmatch typical "weekend warriors"; college grads certainly would (and obesity rates would plummet!).

Continued...

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