Mattis’ fix for the civilian-military divide: Stop being jerks

2018-12-01
Source: WashingtonGuardian
by: Leo Shane III

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SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has a solution to bridging the growing civilian-military divide in America today: Start being nicer to everyone.

“If we can create a society where respect and friendliness is the passport that we all have when we meet each other … then the military, who literally will go in harm’s way for us, will not seem alien anymore,” Mattis said at the Reagan National Defense Forum here on Saturday. “They’ll seem like your own brothers and sisters.”

Mattis comments came at the end of his keynote address at the annual event, designed to bring the country’s defense policy planners and national security analysts together for a day of debate over the future of the military.

Asked whether he is concerned that only a small fraction of American society has shouldered the burden of the recent wars, Mattis said the disconnect between the military and civilians who never served has been a lingering issue since the start of the all-volunteer force in the 1970s.

Source: Military Times

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