{"id":38863,"date":"2018-04-27T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=38863"},"modified":"2018-04-30T09:50:30","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T23:50:30","slug":"banning-death-symbols-right-military-mindset-not-political-correctness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/banning-death-symbols-right-military-mindset-not-political-correctness\/","title":{"rendered":"Banning death symbols is about the right military mindset, not political correctness"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for incoming Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, to find himself the centre of sharp controversy. Even before his feet are beneath his new desk, Campbell\u2014who endured plenty of heat when he headed the government\u2019s Operation Sovereign Borders a few years ago\u2014is under fire from some past diggers and conservative commentators.<\/p>\n

In his still-current role as army head, Campbell has issued an order banning death symbols such as pirate skull and crossbones, the Phantom and Punisher symbols, Spartans and the Grim Reaper. He declared in his directive that such emblems were \u2018at odds with the Army\u2019s values and the ethical force we seek to build and sustain\u2019.<\/p>\n

Campbell didn\u2019t mince words:<\/p>\n

Such symbology is never presented as ill-intentioned and plays to much of modern popular culture, but it is always ill-considered and implicitly encourages the inculcation of an arrogant hubris and general disregard for the most serious responsibility of our profession: the legitimate and discriminate taking of life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Australians who served in Afghanistan will recall the ghoulish images on the helmets of American helicopter loadmasters. Symbols have become more prevalent among Australian soldiers recently, and in certain quarters there\u2019s concern about whether attitudes to taking human life have become more cavalier.<\/p>\n

Critics of Campbell have been quick to turn his action into a fresh argument about the encroachment of political correctness into the military. A former sergeant, Justin Huggett, an Afghanistan veteran, complained about \u2018too many do-gooders and lefties peering over the military fence and looking in to see what\u2019s going on\u2019.<\/p>\n

Sunday Telegraph<\/em> columnist Miranda Devine declared that \u2018it would be easier to take Campbell at his word if he wasn\u2019t such a disciple of the diversity religion\u2019, having \u2018drunk the Kool Aid\u2019. Daily Telegraph<\/em> writer Caroline Marcus said that Campbell giving priority to this matter was hardly surprising \u2018when you consider the trajectory of the defence force in recent years\u2019.<\/p>\n

But that this is really about another story altogether was signalled by the tweet from Neil James, executive director of the Australia Defence Association, who bluntly declared Devine\u2019s article to be \u2018wrong\u2019.<\/p>\n

James argues it\u2019s both unprofessional and counter-productive operationally for a democratic country\u2019s army to \u2018not strictly preserve moral and legal distinctions between using proportionate lethal force and simply killing.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not political correctness to stamp out ill-thought through attempts to build teamwork or over-done digger black humour\u2014especially where this risks conveying to the broader community that some diggers are dickheads, racists, or otherwise amateurish in their attitudes or motivation if not in their professional skills.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The military \u2018understand death because they work in an unlimited-liability profession. But surely this strengthens the need not to glory in having to inflict it, rather than the opposite.\u2019<\/p>\n

Those who have known Campbell a long time describe him as deeply thoughtful about the military and very much his own person. His career background, which includes serving in the SAS, reinforces his standing to make such an order: he speaks as one who has seen the sharp end of conflict.<\/p>\n

The timing of this decision might have been unexpected, but Campbell knew that whenever it came, it would be unpopular with some within Army ranks. Indeed he said in his minute to his officers, \u2018I appreciate that without explanation some will rile at this direction, so please ensure my reasoning is explained\u2019. Notably he added, \u2018but be clear that I am adamant that this is right for Army\u2019.<\/p>\n

For Campbell, the issue is the proper mindset of those who are on occasion called upon to kill in their line of duty. Adopting such a mindset is the soldier\u2019s challenge; instilling it is the task of a commander.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important not just while the soldier is soldiering, but in life after the military too. The community has become increasingly aware of the traumas suffered by former veterans, which take multiple forms. Among these can be the \u2018moral wounds of war\u2019\u2014keeping a strict ethical framework around the use of lethal force may help in preventing some of those.<\/p>\n

In his preface to Nancy Sherman\u2019s Afterwar<\/em>, James M. Dubik, a retired lieutenant general of the US Army, writes, \u2018War justifies\u2014more importantly, demands\u2014what, in peacetime, would be unjustifiable: the destruction of the lives and happiness of others. Those who fight live this paradox day in and day out.\u2019 And many of them live with it long afterwards too.<\/p>\n

While Campbell\u2019s move seems well based in the theory of war, in practice it\u2019s a little messy. The Australian <\/em>newspaper was quick to report that the Royal Australian Air Force\u2019s early-warning and surveillance aircraft\u2014which have been operating in the Middle East\u2014carry the \u2018Punisher\u2019 death symbol.<\/p>\n

Defence Minister Marise Payne said that exemptions could be applied for. Not that Campbell\u2019s edict stretches to the air force or navy\u2014yet. Such a direction is in practice less relevant to the other forces. But to be consistent, Campbell should have it applied broadly when he does get his feet under that desk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It didn\u2019t take long for incoming Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, to find himself the centre of sharp controversy. Even before his feet are beneath his new desk, Campbell\u2014who endured …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":792,"featured_media":38866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[488],"class_list":["post-38863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-army"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBanning death symbols is about the right military mindset, not political correctness | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/banning-death-symbols-right-military-mindset-not-political-correctness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Banning death symbols is about the right military mindset, not political correctness | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It didn\u2019t take long for incoming Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, to find himself the centre of sharp controversy. 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