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    Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country
    Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country
    Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country
    Audiobook7 hours

    Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country

    Written by Andrew Bacevich

    Narrated by Sean Runnette

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A blistering critique of the gulf between America's soldiers and the society that sends them off to war, from the bestselling author of The Limits of Power and Washington Rules

    The United States has been "at war" in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade. Yet as war has become normalized, a yawning gap has opened between America's soldiers and veterans and the society in whose name they fight. For ordinary citizens, as former secretary of defense Robert Gates has acknowledged, armed conflict has become an "abstraction" and military service "something for other people to do."

    In Breach of Trust, bestselling author Andrew J. Bacevich takes stock of the separation between Americans and their military, tracing its origins to the Vietnam era and exploring its pernicious implications: a nation with an abiding appetite for war waged at enormous expense by a standing army demonstrably unable to achieve victory. Among the collateral casualties are values once considered central to democratic practice, including the principle that responsibility for defending the country should rest with its citizens.

    Citing figures as diverse as the martyr-theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the marine-turned-anti-warrior Smedley Butler, Breach of Trust summons Americans to restore that principle. Rather than something for "other people" to do, national defense should become the business of "we the people." Should Americans refuse to shoulder this responsibility, Bacevich warns, the prospect of endless war, waged by a "foreign legion" of professionals and contractor-mercenaries, beckons. So too does bankruptcy—moral as well as fiscal.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateSep 10, 2013
    ISBN9781427235299
    Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country
    Author

    Andrew Bacevich

    Andrew Bacevich grew up in Indiana, graduated from West Point and Princeton, served in the army, became a university historian, and currently serves as the president and founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of a dozen books, among them The Limits of Power, Washington Rules, Age of Illusions, and, most recently, After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed.

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    Reviews for Breach of Trust

    4/5

    37 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The author is a triple threat - writer, historian, retired Army Colonel, and his theorem will not please supporters of an all-volunteer defense. Having fought in Vietnam, he knows about wasted efforts caused by political nonsense, but he believes that the entire country must be engaged in its defense. But how can the country support such deadly, useless efforts such as Iraq and Afghanistan? Bacevich feels that since the entire country will NOT support political wars, they can possibly be halted by instituting mandatory service to country, such as Israel's, without making a military commitment obligatory. So that those who choose to serve their two years in the military can do so, and others can work at different service positions that benefit the total population. For a self-described conservative, the author despises the 1% plutocracy that gains from the 1% who serves and risks death or permanent mental and physical disability. There's a lot of opinion on the Pentagon's grasp of the Information Age (drones), and on the twin travesties of Iraq and Afghanistan. This is an intellectually rigorous and challenging read, well worth the extra effort (for me, anyway) to understand the author's pathways to changing current policies.
    • 4/5
      The author is a former military officer (spent two decades there) who built a second career in academia, so this critique of the lack of connection between the American public and the now-professional/volunteer military, and what that means for the formation of policy, is worth reading on that count alone.Professionalization of the armed forces may be a good idea if we're thinking about sheer efficiency -- and in theoretical terms, at least, the idea that every soldier will be committed to protecting the nation because he or she is serving voluntarily. So much for theory. Bacevich devotes this book to the reality -- the fact that only a tiny minority of us have any sense of what is involved in military service, and what that means for us as a nation when we embark on large-scale wars that last years, and aren't willing to do anything but push the sacrifices off onto others. That takes the shape of refusing financial sacrifices to pay for those global conflicts, and refusing to tolerate the idea of a draft or some kind of national service that spreads the burden more equally. Both of these, of course, would push us to realize the true cost of what we're doing when we commit our military forces to action, and likely result in more thoughtful conclusions about what is in the nation's best interests.Bacevich comes to this from a POV that many will label "left", but the stuff he's criticizing should concern us all, regardless of nationality or political hue, especially because he himself has had "skin in the game" and because he's pointing out that a misguided policy process produces toxic results for everyone out there. This is a straightforward argument, dense and well-reasoned, but best taken in small doses in order to ponder it all. Barreling straight through from beginning to end, without stopping along the way to digest and reflect, is likely to trigger indigestion. I found this very readable, more interesting and better reasoned than some of Bacevich's other books.
    • 2/5
      I probably should not write a review since I didn't finish the book. I promised to though and since I don't see myself finishing this book I feel I should write something. When I promise to write a review I make a concerted effort to finish the book. Since I was not able to get into this book and finish it, I gave it two stars. I can't say why, if might have been because of his style of writing or perhaps because I kept having to stop and look up words. It started to be less a book and more a vocabulary lesson. I'm not impressed by people throwing obscure words into their writing, it feels as if they are showing they have a better education than I do. Which Mr. Bacevich does have.I was so disinterested in this book by the time I quit I can't even remember most of what I read, except that he was comparing the World Wars and Korea to the army today and the army today lost.
    • 5/5
      I will say up front that I have been a fan, and avid reader of the output from Andrew Bacevich. That being said, this book really highlights a number of issues that I think warrant attention from all Americans, particularly those in the political halls of government. Bacevich notes that the all-volunteer military (a thread that he has pursued in other writings) has essentially become discenfranchised from the majority of the US population. This means that the majority of Americans only see or hear about the US military (as demonstrated in this book) through staged productions at major sporting events or the like. The small percentage of the population that actually serves, and continues to serve over and over again, has effectively givent the government a tool to utilize, that generally doesnt really impact the lives of most Americans. Bacevich comments on how many times the US military has been utilized since the end of the draft, and it is startling. Hence the call for a type of draft, where all Americans might "feel the pinch" if military forces were put in harms way.Bacevich also calls to task ex-military senior officers who "see the light" after they have left the military, and in no-way raising the alarm bells while in uniform. Not sure if this is to highlight the seemingly unpleasant taste that leaves with anyone who might question their motivations, but it is worthy to note in and of itself.Bottom line, Bacevich makes a great case about the consequences of the all-volunteer force: "not least among them is a proclivity for wars that are, if anything, even more misguided adn counterproductive than Vietnam was....The warriors may be brave, but the people are timid. So where courage is most needed, passivity prevails, exquisitely expressed...in the omnipresent call to support the troops." Wow. So true. A great read, and it will certainly spark some interesting questions on where do we go from here. The Syria situation today provides a great example of what Bacevich is talking about in this great book.
    • 4/5
      “Breach of Trust: How Americans failed their soldiers and their country” is a look at how the United States has drifted into the habit of endless warfare. Its author, Andrew Bacevich, is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, a graduate of West Point, and now a professor of international relations and history at Boston University. As a military insider his view of the problem is slightly one sided but still accurate in spite of that. Richard Nixon’s move to an all volunteer army has served to divorce the vast majority of Americans from the military. With no relatives at risk and, at least during the Bush II administration, not being asked to make monetary sacrifices, American voters have refused to take responsibility for the wars the government fights in their name. Bacevich’s points are valid, without “skin in the game” American’s have been uninterested in America’s military adventurism. However he is not the first to see this. During a 2004 question and answer session at the 40th reunion of Freedom Summer activists Congressman John Lewis explained that a draft was proposed by a handful of lawmakers who were interested in bringing the American public into the debate. The vast majority of members of Congress and the Senate did not want the average citizen to voice their opinions, or even to form an opinion. “Go to the mall and shop” was the president’s advice, which could be translated as “Don’t look behind the curtain.” Bacevich’s conclusion is as gloomy as his analysis is accurate. I would have liked to read some suggestions, even fanciful ones, on how to fix the situation. As it is the book reads like the deck officer on the Titanic calmly explaining to the passengers that all the lifeboats are gone, the water is freezing, and the ship is beyond saving. If there is no hope do we really need to know? Nine tenths of the book was an interesting and often eye opening read. It deserved much better than the conclusion Bacevich wrote.
    • 4/5
      I would recommend reading anything by Andrew Bacevich. He does not write from a particularly right or left perspective but from a deeply moral point of view. This book reviews the not-too-distant-past history of US military involvements and the evolution a draft based military to an all volunteer force. Therein lies the thrust of his thesis: too much foreign policy is being conducted by force rather than diplomacy.Each time I started to write this review there was an incident that reenforced some part of the book: threatening to bomb Syria and a crazy ex-navy reservist shooting inside the Washington naval yard.Bacevich is retired army which gives the high ground to speak out against using force to exert US dominance. I highly recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      Breach of Trust combines a recent history of military actions taken by the United States, beginning with the World Wars and ending with Libya and our other recent adventures in the Middle East. The author, Andrew Bacevich teaches history at Boston University. He often writes for local publications and is on Boston talk and interview shows in addition to national appearances which makes me quite familiar with his point of view: There is something profoundly wrong with our military, particularly with the army. The problems are many in Bacevich’s view but the most important seem to be a disconnect between the people serving in the volunteer army and the vast majority of citizens, the lack of a focus or mission for the army, the reliance on military contractors with increasing costs and, finally, the reliance on tools like drones that further separate people from killing.I think that Bacevich is trying to sound the alarm bell much as Tom Paine did. Large portions of the book read like a rant by the author against the professionalization of the military. He is looking to return to a citizen army, but like many who think this has little clear idea of who we get there beyond the ideas of reinstituting the draft or implementing a universal national service with one option but the book devotes only a few pages to the discussion on how to fix what has been identified as a problem.Breach of Trust could have been an important book, one that showed us how we got to where we are and, most critically, what we can do to change. Unfortunately, the rant portion of the book got repetitious and not enough was said about the solution. Bacevich could have used a good editor. That said, those who are interested in a history of the transformation of the army post-Vietnam to where we are today will find this account worth reading.
    • 5/5
      Andrew Bacevich is such an important analyst of contemporary American foreign and military affairs owing to his quite unusual position. He both stands outside the reigning defense policy or national security state consensus and at the same time understands the military from the inside having spent 23 years as a U. S. Army officer retiring with the rank of Colonel. He is a West Pointer who does not accept the largely bi-partisan national security paradigm. In this book he questions whether the wars of the last dozen years have made ordinary Americans more secure. But his central point is that our post-Cold War “militarized globalism” of “projecting” American military power wherever there might be challenges is incompatible with a volunteer Army and is straining the Army to the breaking point. Since our military activities are accomplished with volunteers and on borrowed money rather than war-time taxes, no sacrifice is required of the American public. Thus, we, the people, have no “skin in the game” when decisions are made about further military adventures. Bacevich would like this country both to curtail its military adventurism and to conscript citizens and increase taxes when significant military action is called for. He notes that many young people could be given the option of civilian service in lieu of serving in the military. If the inconvenience and pain of military activity were shared by the citizenry instead of confined to the military, it would be more difficult to win political approval of military incursions.I find the case he makes eminently sensible. And he writes well. But as he notes, so many people from manufacturers of weapons and equipment to private security contractors to high-ranking military officers, to Congressmen financed by the defense contractors benefit so much from the present system that it is unlikely to change soon. At least we have Bacevich to warn us of very unpleasant realities.
    • 5/5
      Andrew Bacevich's latest offering, BREACH OF TRUST, is going to make a lot of people squirm - if people read it, that is. Because in this book he tells us flat out that an all-volunteer army in a democratic society simply does not work, and that the present system is "broken." It is bankrupting our country, and not just financially, but morally. He tells us that Iraq and Afghanistan, two of the longest and most expensive wars in U.S. history, have evoked little more than "an attitude of cordial indifference" on the part of a shallow and selfish populace more concerned with the latest doings of the Kardashians, professional superstar athletes or other vapid and overpaid millionaire celebrities, reflecting "a culture that is moored to nothing more than irreverent whimsy and jeering ridicule."Bacevich cites General Stanley McChrystal, former commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, who spoke about having "skin in the game," meaning that when a country goes to war every town and city should be at risk. McChrystal went on to say the unthinkable: "I think we'd be better if we actually went to a draft these days ... for the nation it would be a better course." Horrors! That dreaded "D" word finally uttered aloud. Well, I'd say it's about damn time. And Bacevich agrees, noting that in his many speaking engagements over the past ten years "I can count on one hand the number of occasions when someone did NOT pose a question about the draft, invariably offered as a suggestion for how to curb Washington's appetite for intervention abroad and establish some semblance of political accountability."And, lest anyone should deduce that BREACH OF PROMISE is just one more partisan snipe at the infamous "Bush Doctrine," I should point out that Barack Obama does not escape criticism here. Bacevich points out that in spite of his presidential campaign rhetoric and promises, "when the war became his, President Obama proved less inclined to criticize its conduct." Moreover Obama even put his own spin on the Iraq fiasco, calling it, finally, "an extraordinary achievement," resulting in the emergence of "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq." Huh? I mean, HUH?!I am sure that there are a lot of Obama supporters, like myself, who have been less than happy with the President's knuckling under to his many deeply invested military and government advisors on how he conducts - and continues - the still-no-win and continuingly deplorable situation in Afghanistan.This is not a big book, size-wise. It doesn't take long to read. But it took me longer than expected because I spent so much time underlining things, making margin notes, and dog-earing pertinent pages. Because it's that kind of book, the kind that will leave you feeling simultaneously stimulated and enervated, excited to learn that FINALLY someone has had the gumption to say that this professional standing army thing is not working. That it goes against all the principles of a democratic society. That, as General McChrystal suggested, if war is indeed necessary, then there must be "skin in the game" - that an army of truly representative citizen-soldiers should be fielded. Not to mention sacrifices made at home, INCLUDING tax hikes to finance the war.Bacevich recognizes, however, that such measures, particularly a return to the draft will be a hard sell, and makes a couple of suggestions."One approach is through conscription, with ALL able-bodied young men and women eligible for service but only SOME actually selected. Imagine a lottery with Natasha and Malia Obama at age eighteen having the same chance of being drafted as the manicurist's son or the Walmart clerk's daughter.."His other approach would be "a program of national service," which would include opting for military service or some other opportunities, like the Peace Corps or volunteering to work with sick, elderly or poor. "Some national service personnel might carry assault rifles; others would empty bed pans or pass out bed linens." BREACH OF TRUST will probably not be a big hit at the Pentagon or in the halls of government, but by God it should be required reading at the very least for everyone who serves on the Armed Services Committee in both Houses of Congress. Because Bacevich is right. Our army of professional soldiers is at the breaking point; it is in fact already broken. And waging endless wars on borrowed money (to be paid by future generationS) is not only fiscally irresponsible, it is morally wrong. Period.BREACH OF TRUST is a disturbing yet necessary read. I give it my highest recommendation.