We Should All Think About The Dangers of A Partisan Military

On Dec. 26, 2018, Donald Trump visited American troops in Iraq. There is a lot of discussion on both sides today talking about how it's "about time" he made the trip or how "wonderful" it was. I don't really have an opinion about the rightness or wrongness, etc., etc. I do, however, feel like the partisanship expressed by himself and displayed by a good number of the soldiers was shocking and something that people should really be concerned about, including both military and civilian leaders.

I'm referring specifically to his comments about the southern border, the border wall, his budget spat and how Democrats are responsible for all of the problems related to the current government shutdown. He spoke as if he was at one of his political rallies instead of in front of military personnel. And the soldiers themselves broke with their traditional protocol by wearing and waving partisan red hats and cheering at barbs against people with different political views in the US.

It's probably not a surprise to many that I am not a great supporter or believer in the traditional militaristic approach that most countries throughout the world have when it comes to armies, planes, missiles and bombs. Many accept these things as a necessary evil. I am one of those who believes these necessary evils bring people and nations closer to war every day. In many countries, people who see the potential danger of militarism gone amuck, set up systems and virtually demand that there is civilian control and oversight of the military. That has been the tradition in the US as well and examples of this go back as far as the the founding of the country.

But we never had Donald Trump to contend with in the past. We never had a situation where a President talks about "his generals" and then puts them in charge of the military and national security. We've never had a situation where lines have been blurred like this. We also haven't had many situations, if any, where a sitting President goes on foreign soil and complains about his political opponents to soldiers in the field and gets them cheering against these opponents.

Perhaps Donald Trump and some of his biggest supporters would like to see soldiers marching with red MAGA hats as part of their uniforms? That's what this breach of military protocol could ultimately produce or allow and we should all be concerned about it. There was a time when I thought such statements were an overreach or an overreaction. No more. When you see it with your own eyes, when you see people who should know better, you suddenly realize that we are crossing lines everyday. I don't want to see troops become troopers who are protecting one segment of the population's beliefs and their wants or needs. Donald Trump doesn't seem to get any of that and no-one seems to want to tell him how wrong he is in his view of American values and politics. People better step up before it really is too late. I would guess there are military leaders and personnel who were not pleased with yesterday's events. My worry is about those who thought it was great!