We are accustomed to discussing military readiness in material terms. But what about that which Sun-tzu and Maj. Gen. Carl von Clausewitz both emphasized as first among the factors in war? What about moral influence and its by-product, military discipline? Are the American armed forces capable of matching the dedication-to-cause that the Serbs are demonstrating? Can we sustain a slogging ground war against an enemy capable of going to extreme lengths to achieve its objectives? The case is dubious at best.
Over the last ten years, PC politics and entrenched Cold War survivalism have prevented America's defense leadership from refitting military philosophy to meet the very different military environment of the post--Cold War world. Instead, these leaders have clung doggedly to total war premises, arguing from the familiar and failing to appreciate the true implications of communism's collapse. As a result, senior military leaders have caved in to domestic pressure for sweeping force structure changes to keep funding for high-cost weapons systems that have difficulty discriminating between trucks and tractors. In the process, the principles beneath military discipline have been attacked, maligned, and in many cases, completely discarded. Stripped of many of those principles that classically provided restraint within war's violence, the All-Volunteer Force now struggles along without effective replacements, making moral influence and military discipline highly questionable.
Ironically, at the same time, the post--Cold War environment has rendered the highest levels of military discipline essential. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, U.S. military missions have increased astronomically in both number and complexity. From patrolling in the war against drugs to
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