Comment by TomSwirly
2 years ago
That the US military is the most trusted organization in America after losing one war after another against developing countries with Bronze Age technology simply astonishes me.
2 years ago
That the US military is the most trusted organization in America after losing one war after another against developing countries with Bronze Age technology simply astonishes me.
The US military as an institution has a long history and is notable as one of the few highly visible parts of US government that goes to great lengths to be apolitical and at arm's reach from the political parties. They do what they are asked to do, usually competently.
Most sensible people realize that the outcome of campaigns is a political decision, not a military one. The US military generally wins every battle they are in but they don't get to choose how to execute a campaign.
Whether or not this poll tries to distinguish such details, social "trust" is many-dimensional.
For the military, the most critical forms of trust are "don't attempt to coerce or overthrow our government", and "credibly wage war against our enemies if and when called upon to do so".
Being able to nation-build in Afghanistan, under a delusional do-gooder mandate, is not important. For as long as their orders were (in effect) "pretend it's possible", they more-or-less tried.
If anything they took trying their best to the extreme. They would try no matter the odds, to the point where they would want to stay and try to “win” in Iraq and Afghanistan no matter the situation. The solution to every problem was to throw more soldiers into the fight.
Whereas only a commander in chief who isn’t from a military background can say “no, we lost this one, time to take the L and pull out”.
But that’s good I guess. A military that tries its best to finish the mission and a commander answerable to the people.
Would be interested to know how this was computed. I guess this was a kind of survey and if so, based on the question: are proud of the US army or are you supporting us army action around the world then I wouldn't be surprised to observe difference.
Couldn't find detailed questions for the study, but it says they literally asked for their level of confidence
> In each survey, we asked respondents about their levels of confidence in a host of American institutions, as well as their personal policy preferences, their views on the direction of the country, their support for particular democratic norms, their use of social and traditional media, and a wide range of other questions.