Military Role Quotes
There is frequently a disagreement between the military and civilian leaders just as there are disagreements among most political personnel. Hawks, and people who have had experience in the military tend to think that military advice on military matters should be determinative with the President and Congress. Others tend to believe that military advice should be considered, but if it were always adhered to, there would be no point in having civilian control over the military. See {639667} for an example of when military leadership advice prevailed and it was a mistake.
The issue of whether the military has any rights per se in a democracy or is an institution established and controlled by the people is one that separates many countries today. In one philosophy—held by America and most industrial democracies—the military is completely subservient to and under the control of the people and their government. The other view held by many societies controlled by the military is that the military is a subset of the people with specific rights granted to it. In some countries the military can name representatives, can veto legislation and are considered a faction just like political parties. See China, Turkey, Argentina, and Indonesia for examples of the latter view.
Marshall was then the chief of staff of the army. And political groups were trying to organize soldiers to support or oppose different legislation affecting the military. Subsequently, the role of active duty military personnel in politics was severely circumscribed by law and regulations.
This has been the case ever since WWII. In the Great March where the Communists avoided capture by the Nationalists, the army, the party, and many of the people were in a single amalgam living on the move. The positive and fair behavior of the Communist army during the Great March did a great deal to convince the Chinese peasants that the Communists were not corrupt and greedy as were most of the Nationalist officials they ran into. From a strict military point of view, there was little for the Army to do for defense and national security since the overthrow of the Nationalists. So they have been great supporters of development of the nation after the revolution, but by the 21st century had developed some of their own corruption and built companies to produce funds for the army (and some of its leaders personally.
3 years later he led America on a huge invasion and nation building project in Iraq. It turned out that had he listened to his own advice and not flip-flopped, the huge cost of the Iraq War might have been avoided.
