CGSOC C172 Argumentative Essay: The US Army's Professionalism

This essay critically examines whether the US Army has maintained its status as a profession, arguing that its professionalism is threatened across intellectual, political, and moral dimensions. Intellectually, the essay points to a decline in strategic thinking since World War II, evidenced by failures in conflicts like Vietnam and Iraq, despite tactical successes. Politically, it highlights the challenges to civilian control and the dangers of partisan politicization within the military. Morally, the essay raises concerns about honesty, integrity, and accountability among army officers, citing instances of suppressed studies and a lack of disciplinary action. The essay concludes that the US Army needs to reinforce its professional culture, ethically apply new knowledge, and maintain the trust of the American people. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including similar essays and study tools, to support students in their academic endeavors.

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1ESSAY
The essay discusses the topic, “Has the US Army maintained its status as a profession?”
The essay discusses as to why the US army has not maintained its status as profession.
There is a challenge to the military professionalism. It may be attributed to the three main
areas. The challenges are at intellectual level, political level and at the moral or ethical level. The
intellectual challenge is to gain victory over war irrespective of circumstances without sacrificing
the life of soldiers and the resources. In this area the US army seemed to have failed. It showed
remarkable success during World War II, which was the most complex war. However, there is a
decline in the American military. There is a failure in creating and executing strategy. It is
evident from the fact that in Vietnam War Americans won every battle but lost the war since
beginning in Lebanon in 1983 and Somalia in 1993. Against the US army wishes the Gulf war
ended disastrously1. The Absence of strategy in US army is evident from the Iraq war. Iraqi
security forces could not be trained by the American forces and later they also failed in
connecting war to policy and the forces wantled in achieving the objectives of the nation. It
proved itself excellent only in tactics, logistics, operations, and battle. In October 2002, the chief
military conducted an assessment of the “Global War on Terrorism”. Most focused questions
came down to strategy as there is defense reduction2.
1 Foote, M.J. "Reflecting On Hell In Anticipation Of Armageddon: The Impact Of Reflection And
Adaptation On The Education Of The US Army Officer Corps". US Army School for Advanced Military Studies
Fort Leavenworth United States. (2016). http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD1021971.
2 Burbach, David T. "Gaining Trust While Losing Wars: Confidence In The U.S. Military After Iraq And
Afghanistan". Orbis 61, no. 2 (2017): 154-171.

2ESSAY
At the political level the army must be able to demonstrate the collaboration and effective
working partnership with the civilian political leadership. The army must have subordination to
the civilian authorities those are legally constituted and are in charge of state. In 2006, Donald
Rumsfeld was attacked by several retired generals for handling the Iraq war. The retired officers
were not supposed to criticise the administration. In March 2008, Admiral William J. Fallon, the
US central command was forced to retire as he spoke freely in media3. The cancer in the US
military corps is the Partisan politicization partisanship undermines the public perception of the
loyalty of the military as well as its confidence in the objectivity of the military. It has the
potential to divert soldiers from their morale4.
At the moral level, the army officers must demonstrate honesty, honour, self-sacrifice and
integrity and commitment to personal and organisational behaviour. Talking about the US army
officers, there is also the moral deficiencies. One incident it was found that the army has twice
suppressed its studies on Iraq war. The army officer was afraid to present their conclusions as it
might cause resentment in Donald Rumsfeld. It is clearly the breach of the honesty. It threatened
the after action feedback loop that was indispensable. It is questionable that in recent times
hardly any senior officer has been punished, identified to breach the code of conduct or violated
3 Snider, D.M. "Renewing The Motivational Power Of The Army's Professional Ethic.". Parameters 44,
no. 3 (2017): 7. https://search.proquest.com/openview/d0470666c35ecca3a10d9e9b306d1bc3/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar&cbl=32439.
4 Burbach, David T. "Gaining Trust While Losing Wars: Confidence In The U.S. Military After Iraq And
Afghanistan". Orbis 61, no. 2 (2017): 154-171.

3ESSAY
the rules. It is questionable as the criminal investigation is well developed by the army and the
military has developed the system to expose and punish crime5.
In conclusion it can be said that, the US army has not maintained its status as profession.
Its professionalism is threatened by many factors as discussed above. There is a need of
dominating the culture of profession. The leaders must ethically apply new knowledge of
sustained land-power and sustain the American people’s trust.
5 King, Erika G. Obama, The Media, And Framing The US Exit From Iraq And Afghanistan. Farnham:
Ashgate, 2014.

4ESSAY
Bibliography
Burbach, David T. "Gaining Trust While Losing Wars: Confidence In The U.S. Military After
Iraq And Afghanistan". Orbis 61, no. 2 (2017): 154-171.
Foote, M.J. "Reflecting On Hell In Anticipation Of Armageddon: The Impact Of Reflection And
Adaptation On The Education Of The US Army Officer Corps". US Army School for Advanced
Military Studies Fort Leavenworth United States. (2016).
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD1021971.
King, Erika G. Obama, The Media, And Framing The US Exit From Iraq And Afghanistan.
Farnham: Ashgate, 2014.
Snider, D.M. "Renewing The Motivational Power Of The Army's Professional
Ethic.". Parameters 44, no. 3 (2017): 7.
https://search.proquest.com/openview/d0470666c35ecca3a10d9e9b306d1bc3/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar&cbl=32439.