Bruce Fleming: Does the U.S. Military Have a Clear Purpose?

Bruce Fleming, a professor of English at the US Naval Academy, is the author of "Bridging the Military-Civilian Divide."

Soon, openly gay servicemen and women will be able to serve without reprisal. Harvard has re-instated its Reserve Officers Training Corps. This seems to many like progress. But who would recommend in these days of the all-volunteer force that anyone, straight or gay, Ivy or enlisted, go into the military at all?

The class of 2011 at the US Naval Academy, where I have served 24 years as a professor, has just graduated and its members have become officers. As have the classes of the other service academies. They should know what they are about to embark upon: A futile effort? A noble endeavor? A job with guaranteed benefits that may have them coming back in a box or spending years in rehab?...

What a discouraging time to be going into the military. Yet only die-hard pacifists want to abolish the military in a world full of malefactors. How can we encourage our young people to go into it nowadays if we don't have any idea what it is or what it does?

The US military today is neither of the two militaries that, in historical terms, have had a coherent metaphysical base. For the ancient Greeks, war was virtually an annual event: All male citizens got involved for a short time. For the ancient Hindus of the Sanskrit epics, war was something you were, the calling of caste....