All volunteers 011410

There is an ancient military axiom so old that its origins are lost in pre-history.  The axiom was reinforced during the conscriptions of the military built ups of World War Two when millions of veterans carved the axiom in stone for future generations, “NEVER VOLUNTEER.”

Despite this, back in the good old days of conscripted soldiers there were always plenty of volunteers for cushy jobs, who found themselves peeling potatoes or moving earth with a shovel.  Draftees also volunteered in the thousands for the most dangerous assignments, serving with great distinction and often sacrificing themselves for their flags.

The American military has now been an all-volunteer service for almost 40 years.  The administration had every reason to expect a rush of officer volunteers to become regional experts on Afghanistan when it began to revise the war strategy.  The idea was to establish a corps of 912 from the four armed services to bolster the war effort with specialist who would consider the environment and cultures of Afghanistan and Pakistan for a prolonged conflict.  In almost six months the call for volunteers has only persuaded  172 to sign up.  Of these the Joint Chiefs complained that the services are not providing their “best and brightest.”  The militaries’ spin doctors have produced a number of excuses for the low turnout.  But General McChrystal is quoted as saying that the military must be willing to break traditional career models, meaning breaking the system that has evolved in recent years.

Following the Vietnam debacle the militaries’ “upward mobile” began to transition from “do or die” assignments to those with career political advantages.  During the Rumsfeld era, politically correct team players received preferential promotions for supporting loud fictions.  Soldiers learned the value of spin and equivocation as well as the danger of assignments to losing or dead-end programs.   Their idea of self-interest is to get their ticket punched without sticking around long enough to be linked to negative outcomes.

It appears that after nine years the upward mobile have identified Afghanistan as a career negative.  For nine years the Rumsfeld socialized military stated that it does not need to consult Afghans because they will do as they are told.  The new strategy of asking the Afghans about Afghanistan appears to be military rocket science.  The career minded may well be right Afghanistan is a career killer because it is to little to late.  The administration wants to end the war in the shortest possible time while the polmil wants to keep it going as long as possible.  After all it is the only war they have going.

While the Afghans have long memories of military missteps, the military have an even longer memory of the perils of volunteering.  In the end the military will again volunteer soldiers without influence to fill the positions while the polmil’s “best and brightest” finagle plum assignments out of the line of responsibility and fire.

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Thus far, the Army has provided 69 volunteers of the 363 positions it has been assigned to fill; the Navy 30 of 183 jobs; the Air Force 45 of 225 positions; the Marines 19 of 63 slots, according to a Pentagon tally.