A peek inside the modern military
reflection of the society in which they live. Hence politicians, for example, are apt to employ the overblown rhetoric of ‘‘heroes’’ when publicly discussing the armed forces, yet institutions such as the army continually struggle for the resources they say they need to fulfil the tasks expected of them
The services, generally, are held in high public esteem, even if taxpayers are reluctant to put their money where their praise is. But, unease rises to the surface on occasions, such as the controversy over allegations the military covers up fatal mistakes made in faraway places like Afghanistan. One wonders at such times if there are soldiers and also ‘‘special’’ soldiers, to whom a different set of rules apply, particularly outside New Zealand.
It is these kinds of issues that Army Fundamentals brings to mind, as the various writers analyse a wide-ranging series of aspects of the military. This includes the curious, such as discussing why leaving a barracks bedroom door unlocked can attract a ‘‘charge’’, to the best ways of transferring knowledge to foreign soldiers.
Whatever else a soldier is, it is soon apparent from an examination such as this collection that he or she needs to be a person of many parts these days.
Our armed services, therefore, need to be as intellectually accomplished as they are militarily flexible if we are to be the citizens of the world the United Nation asks us to be. That being so then, a volume such as Army Fundamentals deserves to be on the shelves of all politicians to hopefully enhance the calibre of debate that inevitably arises from time to time. It would also keep to the forefront the resource needs of those whom our MPS would send to places of contention and danger.