4 ms·

Maybe you could expand on your point, because it's not so clear to be that calling the US militaristic is incorrect.

PaulHoule 6y ago
The list of U.S. Wars is long https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni... but so is this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_France even if you start counting at the revolution. The military culture of the U.S. is an interesting question. Our volunteer military is small relative to the population; we invest in quality over quantity and spend upwards of $1 million to train a foot solider. Compared to the population, few people seriously consider a military career. In the solar economy, wealth came predominantly from the land, and being an officer had to do with your status in the feudal system -- it was automatic that the "power elite" was represented in the officer corps. We have some remnants of that system, but large sectors of the current "power elite" would not even think of commissioning, there is no ROTC at Harvard or most of the ivies. Certain right-leaning Christian groups work hard to pack the officer corps with their own. Yeah, we make movies like "Starship Trooper" and "Saving Private Ryan". Only inside subcultures, however, do boys grow up with the expectation that military service is fundamental to being a man. (Oddly, in those subcultures, girls seem to be developing the same expectations today.)
- rsynnott 6y ago
  > Our volunteer military is small relative to the population Eh? No it isn't. The US has 4.2 active military personnel per thousand. This is higher than almost any developed country (only exceptions are Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, who all have special concerns). Large European countries are mostly in the 2-3 per thousand range. China is 1.5.

The list of U.S. Wars is long https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni... but so is this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_France even if you start counting at the revolution. The military culture of the U.S. is an interesting question. Our volunteer military is small relative to the population; we invest in quality over quantity and spend upwards of $1 million to train a foot solider. Compared to the population, few people seriously consider a military career. In the solar economy, wealth came predominantly from the land, and being an officer had to do with your status in the feudal system -- it was automatic that the "power elite" was represented in the officer corps. We have some remnants of that system, but large sectors of the current "power elite" would not even think of commissioning, there is no ROTC at Harvard or most of the ivies. Certain right-leaning Christian groups work hard to pack the officer corps with their own. Yeah, we make movies like "Starship Trooper" and "Saving Private Ryan". Only inside subcultures, however, do boys grow up with the expectation that military service is fundamental to being a man. (Oddly, in those subcultures, girls seem to be developing the same expectations today.)

rsynnott 6y ago
> Our volunteer military is small relative to the population Eh? No it isn't. The US has 4.2 active military personnel per thousand. This is higher than almost any developed country (only exceptions are Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, who all have special concerns). Large European countries are mostly in the 2-3 per thousand range. China is 1.5.