The Military Mind

Principles are the cause of war. No one would want destruction as an immediate political tool, rather it is always argued that circumstances have made war inevitable. So far but not farther; the red line has been crossed and our preconceived principles must now be activated. It is as if the general laws take precedence over reason, for how else can you explain that thinking people on both sides of a conflict find it necessary to kill each other while still acknowledging the enemy’s honorable conduct.

Military logic makes impossible contradictions possible. Normally, if A is true, the negation of A is not true. If Mr. X is right and Mr. Y says the opposite, Mr. Y is wrong. But according to the military frame of thinking they can both be right. Our army follows the law of our country and their army follows theirs. They hate each other during battle, of course, but after the fight they shake hands and congratulate each other for good sportsmanship as if after a ballgame, while the dead still lie spread out on the field.

The military mind is the same everywhere. Whether fighting for democracy or protecting a one-party state, loyalty is first and foremost given to institutions and laws, flags and honors; that is to predetermined principles.

The military personality would swear allegiance to whatever jurisdiction he has been given, so in any armed forces around the world (or at any historical period for that matter) you would probably find the same kind of personality dutifully executing their profession of destruction. Had fate placed them on the other side of the conflict, they would have fought against their current position with the same zeal, for the fight is about their adopted principles and not universal logic.

The military man may also be a man of reason, but his mind is clouded by principles.