“The strict and precise observance of the order and rules established by the
military.” Would we even know the definition of military discipline if we saw it? The
aforementioned sentence was nowhere near what I had in mind when writing this and
yet I couldn't have said it better. Be it Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space force even,
(Notice how I didn't say Coast Guard ;D ) we all have our own definitions and feelings
on a term, seemingly thrown around loosely and way too often even. Is it even
important? Is it worse now than it used to be? Better perhaps? Where the heck did all
this mambo jumbo come from even? I'm not really sure myself but before you jump to
your conclusions let's take a quick dive and see for ourselves.
A little over 237 years ago, our Army was established as a result of a fierce start
of the Revolutionary War between our fledgling union (the United States as we know it)
and the British Empire. Over the course of the Revolutionary War, led by Gen. George
Washington, our Army fought in battles against a much larger and more technically and
tactically advanced army. Our Army faced significant shortfalls and suffered many
defeats at the hands of a seemingly superior force, at least in the initial stages of the
war. As the revolution progressed, the Americans, as they became known, were
significantly challenged by the lack of funding, equipment, personnel, formal training,
and were literally considered to be “misfits' ' fighting against trained professionals. As a
reaction to this ever growing defeat looming on our star spangled horizon the
Commander In Chief George Washington with the help of Benjamin Franklin, then
minister to France, made contact with Baron Fredrick von Steuben, a former Prussian
officer who was well renowned for his superior organizational skills. Von Steuben was
hired by Washington to serve as the first Inspector General of the Army, with the primary
responsibility of structuring, organizing and training the Army. Von Steuben quickly went
to work. He would write doctrine in the evening and train small formations of Soldiers by
day on drill commands that were at the time closely associated with placing weapon
systems into operation and fighting formations.
As he trained more of these Soldiers across the Army on manual-of-arms and
drill, Washington began to recognize a significant increase in discipline across the force
and it showed in ensuing battles along what we now call the east coast, including the
Battle of Valley Forge and many others. Von Steuben continued this effort by training
organizational leaders who would then train their small units. In 1789, Von Steuben
formalized this training when he developed what was called the Regulations for the
Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, commonly referred to as the
“Blue Book.”
BOOM, our future as airmen, soldiers, marines, sailors, what have you,
changed forever. Our country had a way to organize us to close in with, engage and
destroy the enemies of the United States in close combat and allow us to look damn
good while doing it. Many soldiers don't even know why we have our blue books today
and about its lineage buried deep within the hearts of our forefathers. So its
importance? What use is a child who doesn't know the complexities and strategies of
chess with the abilities and structure of all their pieces? If there is no standard and
control over self and those appointed below and obedience of those appointed above
how can there be a command? Not thinking for oneself isn't always a bad thing. There
are thousands of dead RedCoats and a free nation built under God to prove that.
So we have the distant past, what about recently? As any service member can
detest they have heard “these new *insert title here* are not disciplined/ lack discipline”
as if the decade and a half separating you from that First Sergeant was really enough
time to change the minimum standard. I would present a query to them. Service
members today can be scrutinized over everything and almost have their every move
judged and criticised but I don't believe it is a lack of discipline, I believe the older
generations were able to get away with a lot more. Think about it, how many soldiers
and marines in WW2 executed, burned, and tortured the enemy in some way despite it
being as we claim, “against what we stand for”? What about Vietnam? The rape,
extinction, killing of innocent Vietnemese by the hands of our troops? And Finally today,
a bullet comes out of a gun when it's not supposed to in Afghanistan and then an
investigation is launched and the individual is reprimanded and punished almost
immediately. Not necessarily a problem with the system, it's great that these terrible
things from a group of limited individuals are not so easily able to tarnish our reputation
and hurt others but it also shines a light when said individuals decide to act against their
military discipline, thus causing the more senior of us to utter those words.
Now this is not to say the brave men and women who came before us are
delinquents and very often and openly broke the oath and standards we all swore
allegiance to. It IS to say however, that the microscope has become much bigger and
more focused and allows a lot less room for such error. In that sense our standard and
discipline grew and evolved giving us a higher pinnacle to reach and strive for. Also our
environment and generation can shed more light on the difference in our discipline.
Today's servicemembers spend a lot of their time in garrison, living, despite what the
average civilian thinks, a very normal 9-5 work life. As compared to 80 years ago where
a soldier/marine/airman/etc would spend a large majority of service in conflict, which as
any combat veteran will tell you, tend to have different day to day rules, regulations and
worries. On the same weekend our trouble makers were causing barracks fights, and
driving drunk through the gate, in WW2 the same ones were burning Japanese soldiers
alive and letting them burn or executing surrendering German troops.
There will always be those who do not follow the rules but that doesnt mean
those of us who do are less or should be grouped in with them. Upon looking through
the history it would appear that our discipline being better or worse now is up for debate
but I would propose a simple question to those who say “ it's worse”, What makes it
worse that wasn't being done in Vietnam? WW2? Any single answer to said question
can be drawn to a similar or same problem from all time periods our great and powerful
military has existed. And yet our indomitable spirit, love of country and courage prevails,
time and time again. We still wake up every morning to salute that flag and give our
time, our life, and our souls for the country we call home. We make sacrifices for what
we believe in and what our great founding fathers believed in so much, they turned their
entire world upside down, not for better lives but better lives for their children. We ask
not for better lives but to be stronger men and women.
By,
Devin Hollie
2-22IN, Afghanistan
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