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Beth L. Bailey

America's Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force Hardcover – November 23, 2009

by Beth Bailey (Author)

18 ratings

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In 1973, not long after the last American combat troops returned from Vietnam, President Nixon fulfilled his campaign promise and ended the draft. No longer would young men find their futures determined by the selective service system; nor would the U.S. military have a guaranteed source of recruits.

America’s Army is the story of the all-volunteer force, from the draft protests and policy proposals of the 1960s through the Iraq War. It is also a history of America in the post-Vietnam era. In the Army, America directly confronted the legacies of civil rights and black power, the women’s movement, and gay rights. The volunteer force raised questions about the meaning of citizenship and the rights and obligations it carries; about whether liberty or equality is the more central American value; what role the military should play in American society not only in time of war, but in time of peace. And as the Army tried to create a volunteer force that could respond effectively to complex international situations, it had to compete with other “employers” in a national labor market and sell military service alongside soap and soft drinks.

Based on exhaustive archival research, as well as interviews with Army officers and recruiters, advertising executives, and policy makers, America’s Army confronts the political, moral, and social issues a volunteer force raises for a democratic society as well as for the defense of our nation.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
Publication date

November 23, 2009
Dimensions

6.44 x 1.09 x 9.52 inches
ISBN-10

0674035364
ISBN-13

978-0674035362
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Compact, comprehensive, and empathetic, America's Army provides a much-needed account of the all-volunteer army, from its difficult birth after Vietnam down to its challenging present. An important story exceedingly well told.”―Andrew J. Bacevich, author of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War

“Every American should read Beth Bailey's excellent book on America's Army. It brilliantly charts how the huge shift away from the draft came to be and what we might expect in the future.”―The Honorable Patricia Schroeder, Former Congresswoman, Colorado

“America's Army will be indispensable reading for anyone who wants to understand how the modern army works and how this democracy 'provides for the common defense.'”―Colonel Matthew Moten, Professor, United States Military Academy at West Point and author of The Delafield Commission and the American Military Profession

“An excellent history on a very complicated and controversial topic that deals with such emotional subjects as race, the role of women, and the Army's commitment to combat.”―Brian McAllister Linn, Professor of History, Texas A and M University

“The powerful and remarkable story of how the All-Volunteer Force confronted the challenges surrounding race, gender, sexuality and citizenship in creating today's American Army.”―Michael Sherry, author of In the Shadow of War: The United States Since the 1930s

“America's Army will become a major addition to the history of the post-Vietnam armed forces.”―Ronald Spector, Professor of History and International Affairs, The George Washington University

“Beth Bailey has written an accessible and informative history of the [All-Volunteer Force]. It's a valuable reference work for anyone interested in the armed forces. The book has added value today, given the strain under which the military has found itself in fighting lengthy insurgencies in both Afghanistan and Iraq.”―Doug Bandow, Washington Times

“This excellent analytical history is particularly timely. It thoroughly surveys the volunteer force's emergence from the so-called "hollow army" over the past decades, and it analyzes such specific issues as the effect on gender roles of the greater number of women in service, the effect on career patterns due to the absence of a draft, and how to instill the warrior ethos, assuming that that is still necessary in an age of high-tech combat. The ultimate questions raised are whether the all-volunteer force doesn't sacrifice civic responsibility to individual liberty and what the answer to that question implies. Intensely serious, painstakingly thorough, and deserving addition to collections concerned with military and current affairs.”―Roland Green, Booklist

About the Author

Beth Bailey is Foundation Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Kansas.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press; 1st edition (November 23, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674035364
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674035362
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.54 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.44 x 1.09 x 9.52 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,630,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,636 in Government Social Policy
- #3,940 in Military Strategy History (Books)
- #17,988 in American Military History

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18 ratings

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Clark Summers

America's Army - An Excellent Resource

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2011

Verified Purchase

As a military professional of some 28 years, I recommend this book strongly for any reader interested in history of the U.S. Army, current U.S. military affairs, minority and women's issues, and the role of advertising in U.S. culture.

"America's Army" details how the All-Volunteer Force was fielded and developed following the end of the Vietnam War. It includes an appropriate amount of strategic background (post-World War II, Korea, the Cold War, and current campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq) to provide context, while keeping attention on the challenges and issues at hand. Beth Bailey discusses effectively how changes in the wider U.S. culture - race, feminism, economic opportunity, family relations, homosexuality - were (and are) reflected in the way the Army evolved into an "all-recruited" organization.

Bailey's work is rich in detail and generally well-documented. "America's Army" is at its strongest when it describes and analyzes the required shifts in Army culture and attitudes while struggling to maintain its ability to fight and win wars. In particular the descriptions of print, broadcast and advertising products illustrate well these changes. It is less so where the author allows attitudes and opinions to flavor her statements, particularly on policies regarding limits on women's' roles in combat and homosexuality. Nor does she ever address the role of the reserve components on development of the All-Volunteer Force. However, on the whole Bailey is fair and even-handed in her presentation.

"America's Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force" is an excellent survey of modern U.S. military history, and a first-rate discussion of current military affairs. It is a valuable resource for both the professional as well as the casual study of the Army, its place in U.S. culture and society, and its war-fighting capabilities.

7 people found this helpful

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Leeaundra Keany

Dense but worth the plow...

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2010

Verified Purchase

I've been a big fan of Beth Bailey's since I was introduced to her books a few years ago. I particularly loved her ability to present popular culture, courtship, WWII Hawaii, etc. in a serious academic manner that drew tremendous meaning from seemingly trivial facts and events. I truly appreciated her pristine and vivid narrative style which prevented the discussion from getting bogged down in a scholarly swamp. Her books were not only fascinating but also engrossing "reads" - providing insights I could absorb effortlessly because of the clarity of her writing.

For me, "America's Army" was a different experience. It is was as interesting as Bailey's other works BUT it was work. Dense and chewy with facts, trends, analysis and copious amounts of sheer research. I had to read it in chunks and really focus to get through. However, what I learned about our army, military culture and our country during that time was absolutely invaluable. I'm able to listen to news stories about our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with a richer and, I think, better context. I'm glad I stuck with it and highly recommend others to do the same.

4 people found this helpful

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J. N. Childs

all voolunteer force

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

excellent thorough book on origin strengths and weaknesses of all volunteer force. A must read for anyone concerned with national security and its relationship with the military

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2015

Verified Purchase

good read

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2015

Verified Purchase

No wonder she is the hot item in the Pentagon but in the Australian Army as well!

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Robert A. Lynn

AMERICA'S ARMY: MAKING THE ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2012

AMERICA'S ARMY: MAKING THE ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE
BETH BAILEY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2007
HARDCOVER, $29.95, 319 PAGES, PHOTOGRAPHS, NOTES, INDEX

This superb study demonstrates why social and cultural historians should pay more attention to military history. The author of previous books on the history of dating and on the sexual revolution in Kansas, Beth L. Bailey recounts the checkered history of the all-volunteer Army from President Nixon's opportunistic promise to end the draft during the divisive Vietnam War to the current travails of fighting simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with an overstretched mix of enlistees, reservists, and civilian mercenaries. She shows in vivide detail how the U.S. Army adopted to new conditions, how it overcame its reliance on draftees and entered the consumer and labor marketplace to attract volunteers by selling service as opportunity rather than obligation, how it relied increasingly on women and African-Americans to fill the ranks, how key innovators as General Max Thurman successfully rejuvenated the "all-recruited Army" of the Reagan-era, and how after 9/11/2001, the U.S. Army refurbished its "warrior ethos" in order to fight "for the first time in its modern history...an extended war with a volunteer force."

Two enormous challenges faced the U.S. Army as conscription ended: to establish a volunteer force in the wake of an unpopular and divisive war, and to repair a failing institution. The Army confronted these challenges simultaneously. The six chapters between Bailey's first and last address these themes: repairing the Army, the Army in the marketplace, race, gender, recruiting success, and the Army as a social good. Each chapter could be a stand-alone essay of possible use in the history, sociology, or business school classroom. She shows how the Army made the AVF while addressing social change in advance of the society at large. The Army succeeded with a pragmatic approach. Bailey is particularly informative and amusing about the Army's 1970s use of advertising slogans to woo potential volunteers-and infuriate old soldiers-such as, "Today's Army Wants To Join You." Then, the Army of the 1990s increasingly focused on operations other than war and "sold itself as a provider of social good."

Perhaps her most significant discussion involves the ideological rationale for the all-volunteer force wherein a group of libertarian economists, headed by Martin Anderson, persuaded President Nixon to end the draft with two major arguments, namely, the "individual liberty is the most essential American value, and the free market is the best means to preserve it." Nixon added his own rhetorical flourish by claiming that "upholding the cause of freedom without conscription" would demonstrate "the superiority of a society based upon the dignity of man over a society based on the supremacy of the State." Antiwar activists also condemned the draft because of its alleged unfair deferment practices and because they believed that readily available manpower through conscription made it easier for presidents to wage misguided wars like Vietnam. Some observers worried that an all-volunteer force would refute the maxim that military service was an obligation of citizenship and ignored issues of fairness and shared sacrifice. With only 6% of Americans under the age of 65 having any experience in the military by 2001, it wasn't surprising that the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan sparked far fewer protests than when the draft touched, at least potentially, nearly every American family. Even though young American males still register for a standby selective service system (an ironic legacy of President Carter's response to the former Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan), nothing short of a large-scale protracted war will suffice to reinstitute the draft. Nonetheless, as Bailey notes, "there is something lost when individual liberty is valued over all and the rights and benefits of citizenship become less closely linked to its duties and obligations." As more and more Americans prefer to "bowl alone," in political scientist Robert Putnam's famous phrase, so too does America's Army mirror our increasingly individualistic society.

Historically addicted to war, the U.S. has a vast "national security" apparatus, more than 1,000 bases, and with much money to be made by arms manufacturers and global weapons traders. To service this immense and complex system requires a constant supply of troops. Meanwhile, far from the battlefield, politicians and pundits debate the "proper" use of military intervention, whether for allegedly humanitarian causes or by invading, bombing, and occupying to ensure economic and military domination. Now, faced with nonstop wars in the Middle East and possibly elsewhere, and while the drums of war against Iran are heard in Washington and Jerusalem, the question still remains, who will be required to serve and fight, and most important, why?

Robert A. Lynn
Orlando, Florida

5 people found this helpful

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UH60Girl

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2016

Great book read it for school!

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ROROTOKO

The Army's role is not limited to military matters

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2010

"America's Army" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Bailey's book interview ran here as the cover feature on March 19, 2010.

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