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The Cost of Loyalty: Dishonesty, Hubris, and Failure in the U.S. Military Hardcover – February 18, 2020

by Tim Bakken (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 102 ratings
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A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2020

A courageous and damning look at the destruction wrought by the arrogance, incompetence, and duplicity prevalent in the U.S. military―from the inside perspective of a West Point professor of law.

Veneration for the military is a deeply embedded but fatal flaw in America’s collective identity. In twenty years at West Point, whistleblower Tim Bakken has come to understand how unquestioned faith isolates the U.S. armed forces from civil society and leads to catastrophe. Pervaded by chronic deceit, the military’s insular culture elevates blind loyalty above all other values. The consequences are undeniably grim: failure in every war since World War II, millions of lives lost around the globe, and trillions of dollars wasted.

Bakken makes the case that the culture he has observed at West Point influences whether America starts wars and how it prosecutes them. Despite fabricated admissions data, rampant cheating, epidemics of sexual assault, archaic curriculums, and shoddy teaching, the military academies produce officers who maintain their privileges at any cost to the nation. Any dissenter is crushed. Bakken revisits all the major wars the United States has fought, from Korea to the current debacles in the Middle East, to show how the military culture produces one failure after another.

The Cost of Loyalty is a powerful, multifaceted revelation about the United States and its singular source of pride. One of the few federal employees ever to win a whistleblowing case against the U.S. military, Bakken, in this brave, timely, and urgently necessary book, and at great personal risk, helps us understand why America loses wars.

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  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Bloomsbury Publishing
  4. Publication date
    February 18, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    6.47 x 1.39 x 9.42 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1632868989
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1632868985
  8. See all details
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Erik Edstrom
    5.0 out of 5 stars If you think you'll like it: read it; but if you think you'll hate it: you should REALLY read it.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Bakken has been a civilian professor at West Point for decades, offering a different and more lasting perspective of the academy than most of his peers. He has the Bona Fides to authoritatively comment on culture, ontology, and the Academy experience over time.

    It's deeply refreshing to read an acerbic critique of the military after 19 years of false promises of "progress" by Generals in what is known to all (and showcased for decades through journalistic reports, including the Afghanistan Papers) as a self-perpetuating, negative-sum war. This book digs into the roots.

    Why are military leaders unable or unwilling to speak out against stupid acts of political violence that do no benefit Americans at home? Why are women 5x more likely to be sexually assaulted at a Service Academy relative to 'normal colleges'-- the ones with the perceived, inferior values? Why does the military censor or stop debate from happening when contrarian views are expressed?

    **Case in point: Bakken's own book, which has earned starred reviews in mainstream outlets, is not sold at the West Point Cadet Book Store or carried at the West Point library because it is considered by the powers-that-be, inappropriate. By excluding Bakken's credible but contrarian view, it would seem that West Point is making Bakken's claims for him: that dissent and critical thinking are endangered in the military.**

    There are two main components in non-fiction books: facts and interpretation of those facts. And even if you do not agree with Bakken's interpretation, it is important, as a taxpayer, as an engaged citizen, to hear the facts about the military and West Point from someone who has been there for decades. Challenge consensus thinking, read the book.

    The estimated cost of America's failed War on Terror is $6.4 trillion and it killed over 100x 9/11s' worth of civilians across the greater middle east. It has not made anyone safer. There has never been a time in American history where more was spent accomplishing less. It's time to learn from what has happened. It's time for America to stop knee-capping itself while simultaneously waging wars of aggression.

    - Erik Edstrom
    Author, "Un-American: A Soldier's Reckoning of our Longest War"
    West Point Class of 2007
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Luv 2 read
    5.0 out of 5 stars Most important to know? The truth about the army's hubris, and the damage it does.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Tim Bakken is an instructor at West Point, a civilian, which is rare. His perspective as an "outsider" allows him to experience the army's confusion and hubris without becoming part of it. In this wonderful book, he discusses how the lessons learned at West Point have affected army leadership, especially at the highest levels, and all the many failures and humiliating defeats our military has fostered since World War II. Sadly, West Point has continued to turn out these inept officers for years, and the army promotes them and hands them huge responsibilities. In Vietnam, we called them "lifers" and despised the vast majority of them. Tim Bakken is exactly on-target. Every American should read this book!
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Doctor Fuego
    4.0 out of 5 stars Exposes the West Point Admissions Process
    Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I am a graduate and was an instructor at West Point. I am limiting my treatment of the author's book to the West Point admissions process as I believe exposes significant issues with that process that are not very well known by the general public. These include:
    1. Significant numbers of directly admitted recruited athletes who displace otherwise more qualified direct applicants.
    2. The use of the United States Military Academy Prep School (USMAPS) as a "red shirt freshman year" for otherwise academically non-qualified recruited athletes. USMAPS graduates are almost guaranteed admission to West Point upon completion. Again, USMAPS displaces more qualified direct applicants.
    3. Use of the West Point Preparatory Scholarship Program (WPPSP), another non-qualified recruited athlete route and an almost guaranteed admission. Again, WPPSP displaces more qualified direct applicants.
    4. Inflated numbers in applicant pool giving the general public the perception that West Point is more selective than it is (West Point claims an acceptance rate of 10-11%). However, in order to apply to West Point, one only has to fill out an interest form. No earnest money (such as an application fee) is required. If the inflated numbers are taken out, West Point has around a 30% (or higher) acceptance rate. The point the author makes is that some potential candidates do not apply to West Point because they believe it is too selective and would not get in.

    The most damning part of this section of the book on the West Point admissions policy is that recruited athletes generally rank at the bottom of each West Point class, attrition of recruited athletes on active duty is higher, and only 13.5% of colonels and generals are recruited athletes. These figures are not from the author, but from General (Retired) Lance Betros, former head of West Point's Department of History. The best predictor of success in the Army for officer is academic performance.

    The question is why is West Point's quality being diluted by recruited athletes? Don't shoot the messenger (the author)-- respond with why this policy makes any sense?
    15 people found this helpful
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