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    Unavailable
    AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country
    Unavailable
    AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country
    Unavailable
    AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country
    Ebook282 pages2 hours

    AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country

    By Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Military service was once taken for granted as a natural part of good citizenship, and Americans of all classes served during wartime.

    Not anymore.

    As Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer assert in this groundbreaking work, there is a glaring disconnect between the "all volunteer military" and the rest of us. And as that gap between the cultural "elite" and military rank-and-file widens, our country faces a dangerous lack of understanding between those in power and those who defend our way of life.

    In America, it is increasingly the case that the people who make, support, or protest military policy have no military experience. As a result, the privileged miss the benefits of military service -- leadership, experience helpful to their future roles in public life, and exposure to a broader cross section of citizens -- while the military feels under-supported and morally distanced from the rest of the country. And when only a handful of members of Congress have military experience or a personal link to someone in uniform, perhaps it becomes too easy (or too hard) to send the military into combat.

    Based on research and including the voices of many young military members who understand firsthand the value of service, AWOL is also a very personal book. Frank Schaeffer, father of a former enlisted Marine, knows the anguish and pride that millions of American parents feel every day as their children are off fighting a war in a foreign land. Kathy Roth-Douquet, wife of a career officer, has experienced the struggle of trying to keep the family together with a husband at war as well as the often untold satisfaction of raising children in an ethic of service. To the authors and numerous other families who are intimately acquainted with the glory and the sacrifice of military service, America needs a wake-up call before it's too late.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061874666
    Unavailable
    AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country
    Author

    Kathy Roth-Douquet

    Kathy Roth-Douquet is a veteran of the Clinton White House and every presidential campaign of the past twenty-four years and is the author with Frank Schaeffer of AWOL. She lives with her marine officer husband on Parris Island, South Carolina.

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    Reviews for AWOL

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      This is a fascinating book, and well-justified call to arms, with very reasonable and well thought out arguments. The bottom line is we love America, and we love being American, and if our military is less than stellar we risk losing not only our position as a world power, but our daily creature comforts as Americans – which go hand-in-hand. Kathy and Franks’ arguments transcend their respective democratic and republican leanings to come together on this issue of an all-class encompassing military. Their basic premise is that there is a dearth of upper class volunteers in the military and how can your political leaders make sound military decisions when they are not personally vested in the outcomes for our “warfighters”? They make the point that both Churchill and Roosevelt had children as active soldiers during WWII while they were making the decisions. (Churchill’s son was in his own Cavalry Regiment, his daughter, Diana, in the Women’s Royal Navy Service; and all four of Roosevelt’s sons were officers and decorated for bravery in WWII). One can argue whether this made Churchill and Roosevelt better military leaders themselves, but suffice to say their countrymen felt they had a more vested interest in the progress of the war, and would thereby feel more connection and make better soldiers, and in our era we would be more likely to have military volunteers.One recurring theme in the book is that what is contributing to the lack of Upper Classes in the military is the fact that Ivy League and upper echelon colleges actually refuse to allow ROTC or military recruiters on their campuses for career fairs or otherwise. As Kathy points out, “As military sociologist Michael Meese commented to me one day, young people today are not anti-military,they are a-military – they don’t know anything about the military, or what service entails.” Being the children of Vietnam era parents whose primary reaction to enlistment is “not my child” means there is no home front encouragement to enlist in the Upper Classes either. Ultimately our military, and possibly our national security, suffers if our military never gets the opportunity to enlist from the educated and/or upper classes, both because the military lacks more whole country support and the benefits of these more highly educated individuals to make better decisions for the “warfighter”; and hopefully go on to politics where they can have a 1st hand impact on the future uses of the “warfighter”.Frank sums it up, “The more critical someone is of the military or our actions using our military, then they are bound – if they want to be taken seriously – to encourage broad military participation.” Whether you like this topic or not, no matter your views, this is a must-read because our military is what allows America to be America, whether you like that concept or not….MAT 04_10