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Combat effectiveness : cohesion, stress, and the volunteer military

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Of the many criticisms leveled at the American Army during the Vietnam War, the most damaging was that of military disintegration and combat ineffectiveness. Generally speaking, the criticisms stemmed from the apparent failure of American policy, the questionable military tactical response to insurgency and the sociopolitical turbulence in the United States. These, it was argued, seriously affected troop morale, unit esprit, and the will to fight. Combat effectiveness can thus be equated with the "whole" of the military institution and the operation of the political system. The approach in this volume is heavily weighted toward political-psychological dimensions of combat effectiveness. There is a great deal of attention given to subjective and intuitive considerations. This is not intended to ignore the importance of objective factors. Rather, it is a recognition that subjective factors and intuitive assessment may, in the final analysis, be more indicative of combat effectiveness than any combination of objective factors. It is further assumed that combat effectiveness may be more a function of such things as domestic value systems, the will to fight, ideological commitment, styles of leadership, and the degree of value accommodation, rather than technical capability and skill proficiency. In the broader sense, the demands of a liberal democratic system and a technologically advanced society, and the impact of these on individual behavior and attitudes may be the primary determinants of whether or not military unites or the military institution itself can perform their missions.

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Summary Note

Of the many criticisms leveled at the American Army during the Vietnam War, the most damaging was that of military disintegration and combat ineffectiveness. Generally speaking, the criticisms stemmed from the apparent failure of American policy, the questionable military tactical response to insurgency and the sociopolitical turbulence in the United States. These, it was argued, seriously affected troop morale, unit esprit, and the will to fight. Combat effectiveness can thus be equated with the "whole" of the military institution and the operation of the political system. The approach in this volume is heavily weighted toward political-psychological dimensions of combat effectiveness. There is a great deal of attention given to subjective and intuitive considerations. This is not intended to ignore the importance of objective factors. Rather, it is a recognition that subjective factors and intuitive assessment may, in the final analysis, be more indicative of combat effectiveness than any combination of objective factors. It is further assumed that combat effectiveness may be more a function of such things as domestic value systems, the will to fight, ideological commitment, styles of leadership, and the degree of value accommodation, rather than technical capability and skill proficiency. In the broader sense, the demands of a liberal democratic system and a technologically advanced society, and the impact of these on individual behavior and attitudes may be the primary determinants of whether or not military unites or the military institution itself can perform their missions.

General Note

Includes index.

Content Note

Preface -- Introduction: combat effectiveness / Sam C. Sarkesian ; Part I. The dimensions of combat effectiveness. Combat effectiveness: paradigms and paradoxes / Roger A. Beaumont and William P. Snyder -- Prevailing criteria: a critique / Lewis Sorley -- The American experience in Vietnam / Guenter Lewy ; Part II. Society and the profession. Ideology and military systems / H. Wayne Moyer, Jr. -- Professional and institutional considerations / David R. Segal and Joseph J. Lengermann ; Part III. Leaders and soldiers. The will to fight / William L. Hauser -- Military staying power / Anne Hoiberg -- The potential for military disintegration / Stephen D. Wesbrook.