Modern Fighter

 

Coming in 2013

For God, Gold, and Glory: A History of Military Service and Man's Search for Power, Wealth, and Adventure

 

World War I propaganda poster appealing to a man's self-image. Recruiters have tried all kinds of tricks to get men and increasingly more women to voluntarily join the Armed Forces. (Image Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons)

 

Not for nothing did Napoleon say, “give me enough ribbon and I will conquer the world.” Soldiers fight for a variety of reasons: a sense of patriotic duty, the lure of financial gain, or the desire for honor and glory. Some want a bit more than what life has to offer. Others feel that war is their destiny; they can see the writing on the wall and know they must be part of it.

The field of military history is rich and complex and is closely tied to cultural, social, and political history. In addition to battle history, it involves a study of the personal journeys of the soldiers and the underlying currents that shaped their lives. This book examines the factors that drive young men and women into voluntary military service for their country (or for somebody else’s). The book is comprised of five parts discussing events from world history and military service related to patriotism, financial gain, adventure, heroism, and disillusionment.

---

Why is this book important?

The field of military history with its subfields of social and political history—ranging from battlefield history and combat leadership to political and social complexities on both worldwide and personal scales—continues to fascinate the general populace, as evidenced by the great number of books that have been written and published, for example, about the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and, more recently, Iraq and Afghanistan. The movie industry, the Military History Channel, historical societies, and the news media in which war and politics are discussed on a daily basis, further fuel popular interest in the subject. In light of the decade’s long U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, I believe that a broad range of people, including those enrolled in military, political, and social university courses, will find this book attractive and view it as a valuable study about factors that influence a person’s decision to join a volunteer fighting force.

The prospect of war has for millennia lured men into military service. In his classic, Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, T. E. Lawrence said, “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.” For God, Gold, and Glory: A History of Military Service and Man’s Search for Power, Wealth, and Adventure will be of interest to military and social historians, as well as to armchair warriors dreaming of the glory that “mischance” prevented them from obtaining.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

• Introduction

This part provides historical and contemporary examples of the factors that motivate men and women to join the military: patriotism, financial gain, adventure, honor and heroism. It also introduces the possibility of disillusionment and desertion.

• Part I: I Hear My Country Call Me

Patriotism is a powerful force that compels men and women to give full support to the government in times of war. But patriotism and loyalty are largely based on the belief that one has a personal stake in the outcome of a war. This part examines historical figures who rose to leadership positions and made war their prime call of duty for real or perceived patriotic reasons; commoners enlisting voluntarily as a matter of family tradition or from a sense of kinship obligation; and those serving because of social and political pressures.

• Part II: The Lure of Financial Gain

Military service is a genuinely popular choice for young men in districts afflicted by poverty. Financial incentives, such as an enlistment bonus or the promise of an education, may also lure those from slightly more favorable economic backgrounds into the armed forces. At the top of the scale are well-paid mercenaries who are motivated by their personal acquisitions, mostly in the form of money and not in what they can do for the state. This part examines poverty and the effects of financial need on voluntary military enlistment; financial incentives, such as promises of enlistment bonuses and an education and their effects on potential recruits; and mercenaries and private contractors lured into military service by the promise of large sums of money.

• Part III: Wanting a Bit More

The intangible benefits of personal improvement, adventure, or simply escape from a life that seems dull and insignificant are fundamental reasons why men join the military. Young men and women have their heroes and their dreams. Military service allows them to tread a new path for the purpose of proving their courage in the face of enemy threat. This part examines military enlistment as a result of the boredom that comes with everyday existence, or as an element of hopelessness and the escape from intolerable pressures at home; recruitment propaganda and its relation to the promise of adventure, marketable skills, and personal transformation; and the inability to chill and leave military life behind after one’s time in the armed forces has ended.

• Part IV: Honor and Heroism

The promise of honor and heroism can help a man conquer the world, as demonstrated by some of the great military leaders in history. Persuading talented officers to forsake field command for a desk job has historically been difficult. Footsoldiers, too, know that their way to glory and historical immortality lies with the sword and not the pen. This part examines the dream of membership in an elitist society and battle as the supreme test of the individual; promises of great rewards and military training as a “pleasant pastime”; and the tendency to grow fond of war and the pleasure/pain dichotomy of battle.

• Part V: When Reality Strikes

There is no cost to imagining glory until the moment of the confrontation. The commander may lead his army only where it wants to go, and desertion has always been a possibility for men who found army life intolerable. Through the ages, generals have been unable to prevent it. Most volunteer forces do not join the military for what it is; they join for what they think it is. When they realize what it is, they either get out or continue serving the reality. This part examines military service as ninety percent boredom and ten percent action along with tales of heroic victories and lingering dreams of daring adventures; the search for the “real” army, disillusionment, desertion, and the discovery of the cost of war; and climbing the mountains of life, winning the “Holy Grail,” and discovering the path to being happy at sixty.

• Conclusion

This part summarizes the reasons why men and women voluntarily seek military service over a civilian job, and provides perspective on the extent to which the decision to go to war was valuable.