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

Andrew Bacevich

Sept 2013 · Sold by Metropolitan Books

About this eBook

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.

Ratings and reviews

U have ordered the book based on my impression with the author during a TV interview. I do it often, first listen to a source and some discussion just to make a quick decision to place my order on Amazon. My main concern us about our DOD's feasibility of being stretched military around the world maintaining extremely expensive top military force in about 40 bases. I'm concerned about sustainability of a such commitment over the next decade. When Benjamin Franklin had been leaving the office he had been provoked with a seemingly naive question by a younger replacement:"What do you leave for us?"" It didn't take a long time for him to reply:"The Republic!" fools if you can keep it! Romans, who had maintained their presence from Judea to Britain had at its peak just about 20-30 military bases. The largest empire had collapsed loosing almost all its imperialistic desires in order just to survive. We had also expanded a great deal based on the imperialistic desire to a greatness and control. beyond our own boundaries. For example, the Alaska, Louisiana and Virgin Islands purchases. However, "annexing" Panama is an aggressive act against a foreign and independent nation.

About the author

Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University, served for twenty-three years as an officer in the U.S. Army. He is the author of Washington Rules, The Limits of Power, and The New American Militarism, among other books. His writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.