It’s Not Audie Murphy’s Military Anymore

Rev. Charles Roberts
JBS
May 15, 2008

To the majority of American men and women of the Baby Boom generation, and their parents, the icon or archetype of the typical American soldier is that of World War II hero Audie Murphy. The qualities of humility and personal integrity were personified in the life of that poor Texas farm boy who became a true American hero.

The American culture that helped nurture and produce a man like Audie Murphy, and millions of other lesser-known men who served their nation with honor, is sadly a thing of the past.

This is reflected in the current state of America’s military where the average "man-in-uniform" is no longer the hard working farm boy from rural America, but with alarmingly increasing frequency a criminal with values and moral commitments vastly different from a man like the late Audie Murphy. This state of affairs has a striking parallel to another nation’s military: that of ancient Rome.

In the years that immediately preceded its decline and fall, Rome fought wars of aggression and expansion with legions populated by mercenaries, criminals, and aliens seeking citizenship.

Certainly there are many fine men and women who serve in our nation’s armed forces. Americans need to be aware, however, that when they are asked to pay for and support "our nation’s military," they are, in reality, being asked to support a growing number of people who neither qualify for nor deserve that support.