How the US Military Ditched Merit

When a citizen enlists in the US military, he goes through a period of intensive training. Its primary aim is to melt away the effects and the mindset of civilian life and to forge Americans into soldiers, sailors, airmen, or marines, ready to devote their lives to the organized application of violence on behalf of American interests. This training must sweat and bleed the individual who reports for duty, because the Department of Defense knows that the lives of American citizens—formed in individualism and liberalism—don’t allow for an easy transition into military service. Policymakers would do well to acknowledge this civil-military distinction.