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Importance of Understanding Civil-Military Relations

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Importance of Understanding Civil-Military Relations
The Importance of Understanding
Civil-Military Relations
“Some folks are born made to wave the flag, Ooh, they’re red, white and blue…
And when the band plays hail to the chief, Ooh, they point the cannon at you, lord…
It aint me, it aint me, I aint no senators son, son… It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, no…
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes, Ooh, they send you down to war, lord…
And when you ask them, how much should we give? Ooh, they only answer more! More! More! Yoh…
It aint me, it aint me, I aint no military son, son. It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, one…”
- Fortunate Son”, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969 The above lyrics are from the song “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival released on their album entitled, “Willy and the Poor Boys” in 1969. This song was popular during the Vietnam War and spoke out against the war. It was sung from the perspective of a man, who is not the son of a Senator, millionaire, or military leader thus he is not a "fortunate son". He, therefore, winds up being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War because he is not one of those “fortunate ones”. John Fogerty, a former member of the aforementioned band released another album containing two more war protest songs, "Long Dark Night" and "I Can 't Take It No More” in 2007, both of which speak out against the Bush administration and the Iraq War. It is another example of misperceptions or distrust of our civilian and military leadership by the public. The global war on terror today continues to be hampered, in part, by the dysfunctional relationship between our military leaders and our civilian leaders and the misperceptions of the public. The political problems between the two have been around for centuries but have seemed to dramatically increase over recent years. Recent terrorist related events have highlighted the importance of civilian understanding and employment of military forces even more. Most people agree that
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