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A blistering critique of the gulf between America's soldiers and the society that sends them off to war, from the bestselling author of The Limits of Power and Washington Rules
The United States has been "at war" in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade. Yet as war has become normalized, a yawning gap has opened between America's soldiers and veterans and the society in whose name they fight. For ordinary citizens, as former secretary of defense Robert Gates has acknowledged, armed conflict has become an "abstraction" and military service "something for other people to do."
In Breach of Trust, bestselling author Andrew J. Bacevich takes stock of the separation between Americans and their military, tracing its origins to the Vietnam era and exploring its pernicious implications: a nation with an abiding appetite for war waged at enormous expense by a standing army demonstrably unable to achieve victory. Among the collateral casualties are values once considered central to democratic practice, including the principle that responsibility for defending the country should rest with its citizens.
Citing figures as diverse as the martyr-theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the marine-turned-anti-warrior Smedley Butler, Breach of Trust summons Americans to restore that principle. Rather than something for "other people" to do, national defense should become the business of "we the people." Should Americans refuse to shoulder this responsibility, Bacevich warns, the prospect of endless war, waged by a "foreign legion" of professionals and contractor-mercenaries, beckons. So too does bankruptcy―moral as well as fiscal.
- Sales Rank: #394378 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Metropolitan Books
- Published on: 2013-09-10
- Released on: 2013-09-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.47" h x .96" w x 6.07" l, .77 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 256 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Despite our ostensible admiration of our men and women in arms, Americans have offloaded the full burden of war onto their shoulders—with dismal results, argues Boston University history professor and Army vet Bacevich (Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War) in this impassioned and painfully convincing polemic. Our Founding Fathers proclaimed that all free people must make sacrifices when the nation goes to war. As late as WWII, the draft affected nearly everyone, with most people having a family member, friend, or colleague in the service. F.D.R.'s government raised taxes and instituted price controls and rationing, yet few complained. Bacevich emphasizes that eliminating the draft in 1973 sowed the seeds of disaster. When Bush announced the war on terror in 2001, the president mobilized volunteer troops, but not the nation; he urged Americans to enjoy life, and he cut taxes. Since borrowing paid the bill, and there was no draft, few complained. When the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan turned sour, protests were mild compared to the upheavals over Vietnam. Bacevich asserts bluntly that a disengaged and compliant citizenry has reduced military service from a universal duty to a matter of individual choice, allowing our leaders to wage war whenever (and for however long) they choose—with little to fear from an electorate who are neither paying nor perishing. (Sept. 10)
From Booklist
In January 1973, the military draft was suspended, in effect pointing the way to an all-volunteer military. The Nixon administration hoped this would defuse antidraft elements, and it was also concerned about dissension within the conscript army. Forty years later, one could argue that we have a more professional, efficient military, well equipped to handle the high-tech nature of contemporary warfare. Is there a downside? Absolutely, asserts history professor and U.S. Army veteran Bacevich. He criticizes what he regards as the reckless application of military power, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unlike Vietnam, however, most American citizens feel disconnected from the true costs of the war in blood and treasure; taxes remain low and few worry that they or their sons or daughters will be placed in harm’s way. So our “support” for our military is reduced to staged patriotic displays costing most citizens nothing. Bacevich clearly has a foreign-policy agenda beyond civil-military relations, but this is a serious, well-argued work that should engender discussion within society and government. --Jay Freeman
From Bookforum
Andrew Bacevich hates the “all-volunteer” military, and Breach of Trust is perhaps his angriest book since he retired from the army in the early 1990s. It’s not the soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen that he’s upset with. To the contrary. It’s the new and unhinged institution that has corrupted the American polity: the nation’s permanent political class. Freed of the Vietnam Era’s resentful or unfit draftees, the volunteer force has allowed political leaders and the Pentagon to make war without having to worry about poor performance, rebellion in the ranks, or public disapprova. This is a gripping, appropriately lacerating book. —Jeff Stein
Most helpful customer reviews
116 of 120 people found the following review helpful.
A disturbing but vitally necessary read. Take note, Mr President, and Congress too
By Timothy J. Bazzett
Andrew Bacevich's latest offering, BREACH OF TRUST, is going to make a lot of people squirm - if people read it, that is. Because in this book he tells us flat out that an all-volunteer army in a democratic society simply does not work, and that the present system is "broken." It is bankrupting our country, and not just financially, but morally. He tells us that Iraq and Afghanistan, two of the longest and most expensive wars in U.S. history, have evoked little more than "an attitude of cordial indifference" on the part of a shallow and selfish populace more concerned with the latest doings of the Kardashians, professional superstar athletes or other vapid and overpaid millionaire celebrities, reflecting "a culture that is moored to nothing more than irreverent whimsy and jeering ridicule."
Bacevich cites General Stanley McChrystal, former commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, who spoke about having "skin in the game," meaning that when a country goes to war every town and city should be at risk. McChrystal went on to say the unthinkable: "I think we'd be better if we actually went to a draft these days ... for the nation it would be a better course."
Horrors! That dreaded "D" word finally uttered aloud. Well, I'd say it's about damn time. And Bacevich agrees, noting that in his many speaking engagements over the past ten years "I can count on one hand the number of occasions when someone did NOT pose a question about the draft, invariably offered as a suggestion for how to curb Washington's appetite for intervention abroad and establish some semblance of political accountability."
And, lest anyone should deduce that BREACH OF PROMISE is just one more partisan snipe at the infamous "Bush Doctrine," I should point out that Barack Obama does not escape criticism here. Bacevich points out that in spite of his presidential campaign rhetoric and promises, "when the war became his, President Obama proved less inclined to criticize its conduct." Moreover Obama even put his own spin on the Iraq fiasco, calling it, finally, "an extraordinary achievement," resulting in the emergence of "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq." Huh? I mean, HUH?!
I am sure that there are a lot of Obama supporters, like myself, who have been less than happy with the President's knuckling under to his many deeply invested military and government advisors on how he conducts - and continues - the still-no-win and continuingly deplorable situation in Afghanistan.
This is not a big book, size-wise. It doesn't take long to read. But it took me longer than expected because I spent so much time underlining things, making margin notes, and dog-earing pertinent pages. Because it's that kind of book, the kind that will leave you feeling simultaneously stimulated and enervated, excited to learn that FINALLY someone has had the gumption to say that this professional standing army thing is not working. That it goes against all the principles of a democratic society. That, as General McChrystal suggested, if war is indeed necessary, then there must be "skin in the game" - that an army of truly representative citizen-soldiers should be fielded. Not to mention sacrifices made at home, INCLUDING tax hikes to finance the war.
Bacevich recognizes, however, that such measures, particularly a return to the draft will be a hard sell, and makes a couple of suggestions.
"One approach is through conscription, with ALL able-bodied young men and women eligible for service but only SOME actually selected. Imagine a lottery with Natasha and Malia Obama at age eighteen having the same chance of being drafted as the manicurist's son or the Walmart clerk's daughter.."
His other approach would be "a program of national service," which would include opting for military service or some other opportunities, like the Peace Corps or volunteering to work with sick, elderly or poor. "Some national service personnel might carry assault rifles; others would empty bed pans or pass out bed linens."
BREACH OF TRUST will probably not be a big hit at the Pentagon or in the halls of government, but by God it should be required reading at the very least for everyone who serves on the Armed Services Committee in both Houses of Congress. Because Bacevich is right. Our army of professional soldiers is at the breaking point; it is in fact already broken. And waging endless wars on borrowed money (to be paid by future generationS) is not only fiscally irresponsible, it is morally wrong. Period.
BREACH OF TRUST is a disturbing yet necessary read. I give it my highest recommendation.
- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful.
Breach of Trust
By Gerald M. Sutliff
I couldn't agree more with author Bacevich. Personally I've been out of sync with what passes for military policy since I returned from being a grunt level service man (USArmy) back in really early days of Vietnam conflict. In a sense this book reassures me that there are thinking, intelligent officers serving but on the other hand. where were they back in 1962 - 63 before it was too late? I'm looking forward to reading Bacevich's suggestions on how to prevent military "interventions" in the future. Bacevich's prose in clear and his arguments well written. I recommend Breach of Trust to anyone who harbors even the slightest doubt about our popularization of military culture from the Friday Night High School football game to Hollywood mega "entertainments". The worst action by Dick Nixon was ending the draft, I thought so then and do now.
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful.
A Solid Look at The Military
By Michael J. Gosling
Andrew Bacevich has done it once again. "Breach of Trust" offers a well researched account of the history of the Army, as well as how the country's citizens have abdicated their responsibility to truly stand behind the armed forces by making sacrifices in their own lives to "Support the Troops."
A criticism of Bacevich I have read in the past is that all his books are essentially the same: The misuse of the country's military to solve matters of international diplomacy. However, a close look at his work shows how he systematically analyzes each facet of how the government, and in turn the country's citizens, look to using the armed forces as an end in itself to maintain America's role as the one indispensable nation on the planet.
A must read for those interested in what a lack of genuine concern, and in turn, the responsibilities of citizenship, for the men and women in uniform will affect the country's future.
Mike Gosling
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