scholarly journals Managing the all-volunteer force in a time of war

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis J. Simon ◽  
John T. Warner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Military ◽  
Protracted Conflict ◽  
Reasonable Cost ◽  
Volunteer Force ◽  
Military Services ◽  
The U.S ◽  
All Volunteer Force

After a rocky start to the volunteer military in the late 1970s, since 1980 the United States military services have met or exceeded their recruiting and retention goals in most years and have done so at reasonable cost. The ongoing conflict in Iraq is the U.S. military's first protracted conflict since the inception of the volunteer force and raises questions about its impacts on recruiting, retention, and cost. This article briefly examines the effects of the war on recruiting, retention, and cost and studies ways of expanding the size of the active Army force, including a return to conscription.

The U.S. Military Response to Cyber W

2011 ◽  
pp. 439-445
Author(s):  
Richard J. Kilroy Jr.
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Leadership ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Cyber Warfare ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
United States Military ◽  
Armed Services ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

The United States military has taken a number of steps to confront the threat of cyber warfare. These include organizational, operational, and personnel changes by all the armed services, as well as the joint commands, which conduct operational warfare. Many of these changes began before the terrorist attacks of 9/11 as military planners recognized the vulnerabilities the nation faced to asymmetrical warfare conducted in cyberspace, as well as the military’s dependency on key critical infrastructures within the United States that were vulnerable to cyber warfare. Although many changes have taken place, to include training new classes of military officers and enlisted specialists in career fields and military doctrine related to cyber warfare (both offensive and defensive), the military continues to remain vulnerable to an adversary’s ability to control the informational battlefield. Thus, a key strategic goal of the U.S. military leadership is to achieve information superiority over its current and potential adversaries.

The Motivation to Enlist Among Kurds

2021 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2110380
Author(s):  
Matthew Cancian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Northern Iraq ◽  
Monetary Rewards ◽  
Group Mobilization ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Volunteer Force ◽  
The Military ◽  
All Volunteer Force

Although humans have voluntarily joined militaries throughout history, research on the motivation to enlist has increased dramatically since the adoption of the All-Volunteer Force in the United States. Moskos categorized the motivations to enlist as institutional (the value alignment of the individual with the military) or occupational (the seeking of monetary rewards for competencies at market rates). This study explores the prevalence of these two traditional motivations in addition to two less commonly studied motivations—group mobilization and revenge-seeking—in an important context: the Kurds of northern Iraq. A survey of 2301 Kurdish soldiers (Peshmerga) during their war against the Islamic State (IS) indicates that institutional motivations are the most prevalent, although all four motivations are present. The importance of group mobilization and revenge-seeking represent important variations from the better-studied Western contexts that complicate our understanding of the motivation to enlist.

An American Language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

An American Language is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States. The nation has always been multilingual and the Spanish language in particular has remained as an important political issue into the present. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the Spanish language became a language of politics as Spanish speakers in the U.S. Southwest used it to build territorial and state governments. In the twentieth century, Spanish became a political language where speakers and those opposed to its use clashed over what Spanish's presence in the United States meant. This book recovers this story by using evidence that includes Spanish language newspapers, letters, state and territorial session laws, and federal archives to profile the struggle and resilience of Spanish speakers who advocated for their language rights as U.S. citizens. Comparing Spanish as a language of politics and as a political language across the Southwest and noncontiguous territories provides an opportunity to measure shifts in allegiance to the nation and exposes differing forms of nationalism. Language concessions and continued use of Spanish is a measure of power. Official language recognition by federal or state officials validates Spanish speakers' claims to US citizenship. The long history of policies relating to language in the United States provides a way to measure how U.S. visions of itself have shifted due to continuous migration from Latin America. Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are crucial arbiters of Spanish language politics and their successes have broader implications on national policy and our understanding of Americans.

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