the id, the ego, & the single misfiring brain cell

For those of you who don't know, I'm in school again. :roll:

I'm not upset about it, though. I love learning; it's the homework that sucks. This is a ten-week course for field-grade officers (majors, lieutenant colonels, and colonels) in Norfolk, Virginia. It's called Joint and Combined Warfighting School. "Joint" is not only something you smoke that makes you feel good; it's also a term the military uses to describe any operation or activity in which two or more military services work as a team.* "Combined" refers to the teamwork of two or more nations.  

* And in the NATO environment, "joint" means "combined." Confused you will be. 

Anyhow. We get to choose electives, in addition to all the core courses regarding joint functions and the capabilities of each service, etc. Many of my peers chose to take courses that were classified (so they wouldn't have homework from those courses, natch ;) ), and most went with electives regarding the geographical combatant command they're in or about to be sent to. Me? I went subjects of abiding interested to me: Military Ethics and Yorktown 1781, 4 weeks each. The Military Ethics course ("Just War") began today. 

Obviously, I enjoy philosophy and find it difficult or impossible to carry on any meaningful conversation without it. I can't help thinking about (and questioning) the meanings and implications of ideas and how we know what we know. I'm intrigued with the course because I have many liberal friends who question how I can be, well, liberal and still be a part of the American war machine. I have an answer, of course, but it requires engagement and discussion, as the world is not black and white. 

Interesting tidbit: The night before the course began, we were asked to go take one of those simple political quizzes and come prepared to share our position on the political graph. This would give us some idea of the political tenor of the class. (For those who are curious, one of the better ones I've taken is here. The one we were asked to take is here.) We took an early break and were invited to mark on a master chart where we'd been rated. I was delightfully surprised to learn that our class--which is not representative of the entire force, incidentally--has no conservatives, a few libertarians (which are damn near conservative, in my opinion), and is balanced with a fair amount of liberals, one of whom ranks farther to the left than I.*

* I met him already. I was like, "What the hell are you thinking, you hippie?"  

I'm not delighted with this simply because I think liberal thought is the "right" way of thinking. I'm pleased because the general rule of thumb is that conservatives are far more likely than liberals to believe what they're told (by trusted authorities), take orders, salute smartly, and "make it so." In contrast, liberals are far more likely than conservatives to question information, reasoning, and orders. We (liberals) have a hard-earned (often bad) name for being mavericks. But trust me: this is what you want in your officer corps. Without officers who think for themselves and tell the brass (when necessary) that they are failing the troops, we not only lose battles and wars, but lives and treasure. (Our promotion system is stacked against that, though. Here is a classic article by Paul Yingling, LTC, US Army, in which he speaks out against the failure of his generals. He is my hero.) 

After the course, I ran into a few (new) friends and asked them what they were doing their electives in and what they thought of them. They were all doing stuff that didn't turn their cranks at all. It seems our class is one of the few interesting and exciting ones extant. 

Oh. Before class, I encountered a classmate from my seminar. He's a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. I mentioned to him (when we were alone) that he is not wearing his uniform correctly. He responded not by correcting the problem, but by arguing the following: "That's not an important rule."

I said nothing. I just looked at him.

He kept talking: As a commander, you learn which rules are important and which aren't. This one isn't important. We can't let ourselves get bogged down in the unimportant stuff. That rule doesn't make sense, so I ignore it.... [etc].

I still said nothing. I had done my duty to point out his uniform violation and he wasted a lot of breath to justify it. 

Then we started class and began discussing ethics. The instructor kept framing questions as though they are clearcut positions that are inviolable. I said, "Wait wait wait. I don't believe things are black and white. There are many shades of grey."* 

* My friend Jacki suggests that there are at least 50 shades of grey, whatever that means. 

AF Lt Col from earlier: Not me. I prefer things to be black and white.

Again, I said nothing. I just thought, "Like, say, Air Force rules on, oh, how to wear the uniform?"

It occurs to me that any serious discussion of philosophy is impossible until one is willing to relinquish one's overwhelming need for easy answers. Philosophy begins with the acknowledgement that the world is not black and white. 

I look forward to an exhilerating class. 

d