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We, as Americans, have great faith in our form of government, and many of us take considerable pride in the notion that our nation is nearly unique, our people dedicated to lofty principles rather than to high and mighty princes. That pride has at times carried with it a degree of hubris, a conclusion that other people in other places should embrace our ideas and ideals just as readily as do we. Therefore, we believe that when we come into those other places carrying with us this promise of freedom, it is only natural that we should be well received. Sometimes—for example, in Italy and France during World War II—we have been received just as we had hoped, as liberating heroes, as deliverers from oppression, as the champions of democracy. However, we have not always been so received, no matter how lofty our goals and ambitions. There have been times and places in which we went to liberate or protect or restore the rule of law, and we ended up instead as an army of occupation, facing a large segment of a population that did not want us there. That happened in Vietnam. It appears to have happened again in Iraq. It may have happened for the ¤rst time in 1861 and 1862—not overseas, but right here, in Missouri, in Tennessee, in Virginia, and in Alabama. In times of trouble, when the prospect of war comes over the horizon, Americans, often in great numbers, rally to the cause. Those numbers are never greater than when the country comes under attack. No matter whether the attack falls on a major, if sleeping, naval base and is conducted by a foreign power, or whether it is carried out by troubled countrymen trying to break the bonds of the Union by attacking a small government fort, the lines at the recruiting stations quickly grow long. To ask men, and now women, Introduction why they volunteer under such circumstances seems ridiculous. It is the natural and right response for people who care about the longevity of what they believe to be the best form of government on earth, which stands, or so we like to think, as the world’s bastion of freedom. Simply put, volunteering is the patriotic thing to do. However, we can and should ask the question “Why do these people volunteer ?” What is it, exactly, that they hope to do after they take up arms? Do they want to restore democracy, order, and the rule of law? Do they want to defeat the powers that threaten our way of life? Or do they want revenge on those who attack us? Whom do these volunteers see as the wrongdoers deserving punishment? Will they focus on the military leaders of the attack and on the heads of the sponsoring regime? Or will they look equally harshly on those wearing the enemy’s uniforms, on the people working in the factories supplying the warriors, and on the people at home growing their food and sewing their clothes? It is much easier to lead when the motivations of the people being led are understood. It is, of course, possible for our government to arrive at answers to these questions, as matters of policy, that differ from those reached by the volunteers who come forward to wage the war. While the volunteers may want revenge, the government may only see a need to restore order. In that case, great care and effort must be taken to ensure that the volunteers are properly trained and indoctrinated, so that the government’s policy decisions, and not those of the volunteers, are implemented. We will assume for the sake of future argument here in this volume that an army will ¤ght with more spirit and ef¤ciency when of¤cial policy and personal motivations align. Those feelings can be something policy makers and the army can take great advantage of—but only where policy and motivation, as adapted by training, actually do align. Bring one thousand men together, and the nature of the group you have will depend both on the reason for the gathering and on the men who emerge as the leaders of the group. If they gather in a stadium, cheer the home team, jeer the visitors, and threaten the of¤cials, we call them fans. If they congregate in a public park, angered by events, we call them a mob. If they come together in response to an attack on their...

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