The Armed Forces: A New Breed of Brass

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In the catalog of astonishments that will forever mark the chronicles of the gulf war, none is more dramatic than the remarkable professionalism of the U.S. soldiers who planned and fought the battles. That was exemplified most visibly by the smooth TV performances of top military officers in Washington and Saudi Arabia. Intelligent, frank, sometimes eloquent, these men seemed to personify a new class of American military leaders who not only have a < thorough grasp of their trade but also demonstrate broad political and worldly sophistication -- not to mention p.r. savvy.

It was not always thus. During the Vietnam era, many Americans came to regard the U.S. officer class as a band of dissemblers and incompetents. As for the grunts, their ranks had long been considered a repository for society's dropouts. From the Revolutionary War to the early 1900s, it was not only common but legal for a conscript to pay someone else to take his place in the armed forces. Some criminal court judges even sentenced miscreants to military service.

But the armed forces have undergone a top-to-bottom transformation since the end of Vietnam. Nowadays, says U.S. Air Force Academy spokesman Colonel Mike Wallace, "the military is a different breed of cat. It is no longer a place to hide society's misfits; it represents a large section of America's middle class, who are better informed and better trained than before." Today every man and woman entering the armed forces has at least a high school diploma, and nearly all officers have earned at least a bachelor's degree in subjects ranging from political science to European history. Lieut. General Thomas Kelly, who skillfully led the Pentagon's Washington briefings on Operation Desert Storm, has a B.S. in journalism; Marine Brigadier General Richard Neal, the main briefer in Saudi Arabia, has a master's degree in education. Allied Commander H. Norman Schwarzkopf has an M.S. in mechanical engineering. General Colin Powell, who never attended a military academy, has earned a B.S. in geology and a master's degree in business administration.

For senior military officers, the intellectual challenges hardly end with their college days. Some attend a two-week national-security program at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government that is held every year, as well as numerous seminars on a variety of political and military issues. In addition, the Council on Foreign Relations provides an internship program for military officers. The Pentagon even runs a "charm school" (properly called the General Officer Orientation class), where freshly baked brigadiers are taught social graces that include the proper choice of forks as well as the finger-bowl ritual.

The new emphasis on the culturization of the officer corps came with a reassessment that followed the Vietnam War and the subsequent changeover to an all-volunteer military. One distressing result of the Vietnam experience was that large numbers of disillusioned officers resigned from the services. The Pentagon needed not only a new infusion of talent but also a major overhaul in organization and training. Most important, the traditional interservice bickering that often hobbled performance in the field and sowed distrust between officers and men had to end.