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Military Discipline: The Key to Success in the Armed Forces

Table of Contents

What is military discipline, why is military discipline important, how is military discipline instilled in soldiers.

Military discipline is the foundation upon which all successful armies are built. It is the glue that holds together soldiers from different backgrounds, and allows them to work together towards a common goal. In this article, we will explore what military discipline is, why it is important, and how it is instilled in soldiers.

Military discipline is a code of conduct that governs the behavior of soldiers. It is a set of rules and regulations that guide soldiers' actions and decisions, both on and off duty. Military discipline encompasses everything from following orders to maintaining personal hygiene to treating others with respect. It is a crucial component of military life, as it ensures that soldiers are able to function effectively in high-stress situations.

Military discipline is essential for several reasons. First and foremost, it is necessary for the safety and well-being of soldiers. In battle, soldiers must be able to rely on each other to follow orders and act quickly in order to stay alive. Without discipline, chaos can ensue, putting soldiers' lives in danger.

Secondly, military discipline is important for maintaining order and morale. Soldiers who do not follow the rules can create a negative environment that can erode unit cohesion and harm morale. By contrast, when soldiers follow the rules and work together towards a common goal, they can achieve great things and inspire one another.

Finally, military discipline is important for maintaining the reputation and effectiveness of the armed forces. The military is often called upon to handle difficult and dangerous situations, both at home and abroad. When soldiers act with discipline and professionalism, they demonstrate to the public and to the world that the military is a force to be reckoned with.

Military discipline is instilled in soldiers through a variety of methods. Basic training, or boot camp, is the first step in this process. During basic training, soldiers are taught the basics of military life, including discipline, respect, and following orders. Drill sergeants use a combination of strict rules and harsh consequences to train soldiers to obey commands without question.

Once basic training is complete, soldiers continue to receive training on discipline throughout their military careers. They attend regular training sessions and receive feedback on their behavior from their superiors. Soldiers who demonstrate exceptional discipline may be recognized and rewarded, while those who fail to meet standards may be disciplined or even discharged from the military.

Military discipline is an essential component of military life. It is the foundation upon which all successful armies are built, and it is crucial for ensuring the safety and well-being of soldiers, maintaining order and morale, and upholding the reputation and effectiveness of the armed forces. Through a combination of basic training and ongoing training and feedback, soldiers are taught to follow the rules and act with discipline and professionalism at all times. With military discipline as their guide, soldiers are able to work together towards a common goal and achieve great things.

Hello! I am an avid military enthusiast and analyst. With a deep passion for military history, strategy, and technology, I like to provide insightful perspectives on global conflicts and defense mechanisms for OnlineMilitaryEducation.org.

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Essay on Military Discipline

Students are often asked to write an essay on Military Discipline in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Military Discipline

What is military discipline.

Military discipline is about following rules and showing respect. Soldiers must obey orders, be on time, and wear their uniforms right. This discipline helps them work together and stay safe.

Why It’s Important

Discipline keeps soldiers organized. It makes sure they are ready to protect their country. When everyone follows the same rules, they can trust each other more.

Training for Discipline

Soldiers learn discipline during training. They practice doing things the same way and listening to their leaders. This training prepares them for tough situations.

Discipline in Daily Life

Discipline isn’t just for big missions. It’s also for everyday tasks like cleaning and exercising. Doing these well shows a soldier’s commitment.

Military discipline is key for a strong army. It builds teamwork, trust, and readiness. It’s about being your best, every day.

250 Words Essay on Military Discipline

Military discipline is a set of rules that people in the army follow. It helps soldiers act correctly and obey orders. This discipline is very important because it can make the difference between success and failure in missions.

Why is Discipline Important?

In the military, discipline means being on time, wearing the right uniform, and respecting leaders. It keeps soldiers safe and helps them work together as a team. When everyone follows the rules, the army can do its job well.

Training and Discipline

Soldiers learn discipline during their training. They practice doing things the same way and at the right time. This training helps them react quickly in tough situations without getting confused or scared.

Following Orders

A big part of military discipline is following orders. When a leader gives an order, soldiers must listen and do what they are told. This is important because, in dangerous situations, there is no time for questions.

Respect and Discipline

Respect is another key part of military discipline. Soldiers must show respect to their leaders and each other. This respect helps maintain order and keeps everyone working together.

In conclusion, military discipline is all about following rules, being on time, and showing respect. It is essential for the safety and success of the military. Soldiers practice discipline every day to make sure they are ready for any challenge.

500 Words Essay on Military Discipline

Military discipline is the strict and orderly behavior that is a fundamental part of military life. It is what sets the military apart from other groups. This kind of discipline makes sure that soldiers follow orders and act in a professional way at all times. It is essential for the success of military operations and for keeping soldiers safe.

The Importance of Following Orders

One key part of military discipline is following orders. When soldiers are given commands, they must carry them out without question. This is important because in dangerous situations, there is no time for debate. Quick and unquestioning obedience can save lives and complete missions successfully. This also teaches soldiers to trust their leaders and work as a team.

Respect and Hierarchy

Respect is a cornerstone of military discipline. Soldiers must show respect to their superiors at all times. This is shown through saluting, standing at attention, and using proper titles when speaking to officers. The military has a clear hierarchy, and understanding one’s place within it is crucial. This respect ensures order and a smooth chain of command.

Self-Control and Appearance

Self-control is another vital aspect of military discipline. Soldiers must control their emotions, especially anger and fear. They must remain calm under pressure and face challenges without panic. Additionally, part of self-control is maintaining a neat appearance. Soldiers wear uniforms that are clean and worn correctly to show their professionalism and unity.

Punctuality and Reliability

Being on time is a must in the military. Punctuality shows reliability and readiness to take on tasks. A disciplined soldier is someone who can be counted on to be where they need to be, when they need to be there. This ensures that the whole unit can work together effectively.

Training and Practice

Discipline is not something soldiers have naturally; it is learned through training and practice. From the first day in the military, soldiers are taught to act with discipline. Over time, it becomes a habit. Regular drills and exercises help to maintain this discipline and ensure that soldiers are always ready for duty.

The Benefits of Military Discipline

The benefits of military discipline go beyond the battlefield. It can help soldiers in their daily lives by teaching them good habits like being organized and responsible. It also builds character and helps people to handle stress and challenges better.

In conclusion, military discipline is a set of behaviors that are critical to the functioning of the military. It includes following orders, showing respect, having self-control, being punctual, and maintaining a high level of training. These behaviors ensure that the military can operate smoothly and effectively. Even though it is strict, military discipline has many benefits and is a key part of what makes the military successful.

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Home — Essay Samples — Government & Politics — Military — Military Respect: The Cornerstone of Discipline and Camaraderie

Military Respect: The Cornerstone of Discipline and Camaraderie

• Categories: Respect

About this sample

Words: 666 |

Published: Sep 12, 2023

Words: 666 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

The essence of military respect, the manifestations of military respect, the importance of military respect.

• Superiors: Respect for higher-ranking officers and leaders is a cornerstone of military discipline. This respect is demonstrated through salutes, adherence to orders, and deference to their authority.
• Subordinates: The military values the dignity and worth of every service member, regardless of rank. Leaders must treat their subordinates with respect, recognizing their contributions and addressing their needs and concerns.
• Peers: Respect among peers fosters a sense of unity and camaraderie. It includes acknowledging each other's expertise, supporting one another in challenging situations, and upholding the honor of the unit.
• Traditions and Values: Military respect extends to the customs, traditions, and core values of the armed forces. These traditions are honored and upheld as a source of pride and identity.
• Rules and Regulations: Military members show respect for the rules and regulations that govern their conduct. Compliance with these standards ensures order and safety within the ranks.
• Saluting: Saluting is a symbol of respect and recognition of higher rank. It is a gesture that signifies acknowledgment of authority.
• Following Orders: Promptly and efficiently executing orders from superiors is a demonstration of respect for their leadership and the chain of command.
• Active Listening: Respectful communication involves active listening, where service members attentively hear and consider the perspectives and concerns of others.
• Mentoring and Training: Senior military members take on mentorship roles, guiding and instructing junior service members to help them grow and succeed.
• Integrity and Honesty: Upholding the military's values of integrity and honesty is a form of respect for the institution and one's comrades.

Discipline:

Camaraderie:, moral and ethical foundation:, leadership and mentorship:, unit cohesion:.

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15 Keeping Military Discipline

Stefan G. Chrissanthos, Lecturer in History, University of California, Riverside

• Published: 28 January 2013
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This chapter offers a brief history of military discipline in ancient armies, and also investigates how and to what degree societies inflicted discipline on their soldiers, and how, in various ways, soldiers imposed discipline on themselves. Then, it addresses the evolution of military discipline from Greece until eventually something similar to a modern system developed in the early Roman Empire. The death of Alexander had precipitated almost fifty years of continuous warfare that ultimately resulted in the development of the Hellenistic monarchies. The Roman army represented something completely new in ancient Mediterranean warfare. It is observed that the Principate represented a major step in the evolution of ancient military discipline.

A fragment (10 Edmonds) of the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus makes clear the brutal nature of infantry battle in the Greek and Roman world. “Let each man hold, standing firm,” he says, “setting foot against foot, and resting shield against shield,…[and] let him fight his man breast to breast, grasping the hilt of his sword or of his long spear.” This bloody work, Tyrtaeus concludes, identifies the agathos man, the man able to endure bloody slaughter.

With all the horrors of the battlefield, several dimensions of what is generally defined as discipline helps us comprehend how soldiers were willing, or made willing, to fight and to ignore (at least enough so that they could function) the real threat of injury or death, possibly a lingering and painful death, to themselves and their comrades. Specifically, discipline goes a long way toward helping soldiers stand together on the battlefield. Sometimes it enables them to execute certain tactics in the face of the enemy, inflict casualties, and create sufficient panic in the opposing force to cause its disintegration and defeat. While weapons and tactics have evolved over time, the importance of discipline has remained unchanged, often deciding battles, wars, and the course of history. The process, however, by which citizens or subjects of various states, kingdoms, and empires were transformed into disciplined soldiers willing to stand united and face the horrors of the battlefield has changed over time. Unsurprisingly perhaps, what constitutes discipline both reflects a society’s values and ideals as well as its response to those within who fail to meet the standard of behavior.

Discipline has usually been equated with harsh punishment and the punitive measures of a government or general to keep soldiers under control while on campaign and, more importantly, to instill in them the fear necessary to force them to fight. But discipline also encompasses a wide range of meanings and involves such factors as training, the nature of leadership practiced by a general, rewards bestowed by officers and communities for proper military behavior, and the social and martial values of the soldiers themselves which inspired bravery in battle. Both the positive and the negative, the proverbial carrot and stick, played roles in military discipline. This discussion aims to provide a brief history of military discipline in ancient armies, to explain how and to what degree societies imposed discipline on their soldiers or how, in various ways, soldiers imposed discipline on themselves. It will also follow the evolution of military discipline from Greece until eventually something similar to a modern system developed in the early Roman Empire. 1

Homeric Greece

The earliest insight into military discipline comes from Homer. The Iliad and Odyssey provide fascinating glimpses of a society emerging into a more settled form of social-political organization. This transition had a large impact on military organization. In the epics the great heroes are termed basileis —“kings,” but in reality “big men” or “chiefs.” At Troy basileis commanded their own contingents of soldiers, such as Odysseus and his Ithacans. Though called kings, they were not absolute monarchs like Egyptian pharaohs, and did not administer complex political and economic machinery like the Mycenaean kings. There were no military codes or laws, no official chain of command. Instead a basileus attained his position through inheritance and the sanction of both the gods and to some extent the people. To maintain his position he relied on his abilities to control dependents and followers by inspiring loyalty, specifically through military and oratorical skills. Above all, he was expected to be the bravest in battle by leading from the front. This conferred the legitimacy he needed to demand submission to his authority. As the Lycian hero Sarpedon said, “Why in Lycia, Glaucus, do we receive special honor?…it is because we take our stand at the head of all the Lycians and bear the brunt of the fighting, so that our people say to each other ‘Our princes are fine fellows, they fight well and are ever at the front of battle’” (Hom. Il . 12.290–328).

A king was also expected to be wise in council and be able to persuade his men to follow him. His position did not allow him to simply command his men to move, nor could he threaten them with punishment; instead he often had to convince them that his strategies were sound. For example, it is evident that Odysseus does not have the power to order his men about. In some cases he is able to persuade them to follow his lead; in others his men refuse to obey his orders. On one occasion, after sacking the town of the Cicones, Odysseus, sensing danger, tries to tell his men that “we should be off, but my foolish men refused ; there was plenty of wine so they kept drinking and eating by the shore” (Hom. Od. 9.50–53). Soldiers in the epics enjoyed the freedom to speak out against and argue with their leaders. For example, Odysseus’s companion Eurylochus protested in open assembly against Odysseus’s plan to avoid the Island of the Sun. When Eurylochus finished speaking he was greeted with applause. Odysseus was forced to give in because, as he put it, “I was one against many” (Hom. Od. 12.322). Subordinate officers and even the average soldier enjoyed and demanded certain freedoms and rights and a certain independence from their leaders. There was in fact a “constant tension” between leaders and followers as the soldiers jealously guarded their prerogatives against the encroachment of royal authority (Donlan 1999 : 350). Even Agamemnon, the overall commander of the Greek forces at Troy, was unable to lead autocratically. He cannot force Achilles or anyone else to fight. He is rebuked on numerous occasions by his fellow kings, such as Odysseus, and on one famous occasion by Thersites, a common soldier. Diomedes clearly articulated a vital privilege he and others possessed and frequently exercised: “We are privileged in open debate, and you Agamemnon cannot get upset” (Hom. Il. 9.36–37).

Despite the lack of a command structure or military code, discipline was not unknown. In Greek armies much of the discipline came “from within the soldiers themselves” (Phillips 2001 : 326). Character traits such as bravery and excellence, and their opposite numbers, shame and cowardice, played a huge role for Homeric soldiers. They wanted above all else to distinguish themselves in battle, to achieve deeds that would enhance the honor of their family and their name, while avoiding doing anything that would bring dishonor. These values helped deter them from abandoning their comrades. Desire for glory and fear of dishonor, rather than fear of some form of disciplinary punishment, was their main motivation. These values would outlive Odysseus and the other Homeric heroes and continue to play a role in war in the classical and Hellenistic periods. Alexander was only the most famous Greek soldier driven by these values.

Polis Armies

The hoplite armies that emerged along with the polis during the archaic age changed the nature of Greek warfare. The scale of battle increased along with the size of armies; no longer did forces consist of wealthy men, their dependents, and companions. Yet important elements of the Greek battle experience remained the same. Specifically, there were no military codes or laws by which commanders or individual city-states could impose discipline through the exemplary punishment of recalcitrant soldiers. Instead, the heroic values of the Homeric era filtered down and were in some ways transformed to fit the new phalanx warfare. Soldiers no longer fought in small groups of noble warriors, with an Achilles or Diomedes in front demonstrating their bravery. Instead hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hoplites fought shoulder to shoulder in the phalanx. The cardinal rule of war still applied: they must at all costs hold their phalanx together while forcing the disintegration of the enemy’s.

Though there was little or no formal training or disciplinary system in the archaic or early classical periods (outside of Sparta), men were still inspired to hold their position by the same values as the Homeric heroes. Bravery in battle was still prized, but it was bravery of a different sort. From within a soldier came the same urge to fight well, to win honor for himself, and to uphold his family name. There was now, however, a more patriotic motivation to fight well: to defend the polis and the people. Therefore glory was not to be won on an individual basis, out in front of the ranks against opposing aristocratic heroes; instead glory was to be won in the service of the state. The soldier fought to secure a good reputation among his comrades with whom he fought; cowardice in battle was not only shameful in itself, but flight could cause panic and bring about defeat for an entire army. As Tyrtaeus wrote, “a man is not agathos in war unless he endure seeing the bloody slaughter, and standing close reach out for the enemy…this is a common good for the whole polis and the people when a man holds, firm among the fighters…never will his fame die, nor his name…since he acted bravely and was fighting for his land and children” (Tyrtaeus fr.10 Edmonds). Though performance did not always match expectations, this was the ideal to which hoplites aspired.

The dread of the shame which would be incurred if he did not fight well, the contempt of his fellow citizens and soldiers, was a powerful force to maintain discipline despite the horrors of hoplite warfare. The fate of Aristodemus and Pantites, the two Spartan survivors of Thermopylae, seems to indicate that even in early fifth-century Sparta there were still no laws governing military behavior nor specific tribunals organized to hear cases for breaches of military discipline such as cowardice (Hdt. 7.231–232, 9.70–73). Shame, however, remained a powerful coercive force: none of Aristodemus’s fellow citizens would speak to him, and he was derisively referred to as “Aristodemus the Coward.” This provided the motivation necessary for him to perform more bravely at Plataea than any other Spartan, though his fellow Spartans refused to bestow any award for bravery on him, arguing that his exploits merely balanced the scales. Unlike Aristodemus, Pantites could not endure the harsh treatment he faced upon returning home, which prompted his suicide. Certainly the fate of both men would make a great impression on other Spartan soldiers and help them overcome their fears and stiffen their resolve in combat.

It should be noted that outside factors sometimes dictated military punishment. For example, demographic pressures in the late fifth and early fourth centuries would force the Spartans to deal more leniently with cowardice in battle. The survivors of Sphacteria in 425, at first shunned, were eventually restored to full citizenship. For similar reasons, the survivors of Leuctra fifty years later would be spared when the harsh laws for cowardice in battle were allowed to “sleep” for a day (Plut. Ages . 30.6).

As phalanx warfare continued into the classical period campaigns became more frequent and battles were fought on an even greater scale. Armies were far larger, with thousands of soldiers serving under commanders they could not know well. Conflicts, especially the great Peloponnesian War, were no longer relatively short and fought against a neighboring state. Greater discipline seemingly would be needed, and apparently disciplinary systems did develop in some cities, possibly due to the pressures of ongoing war, by which certain military offenses were punished. In many ways these laws standardized what had before been custom. By the end of the fifth century, at Athens, for example, penalties had been established for refusing service and desertion. Citizens could be punished for four acts relating to military service: 1) treason; 2) refusing to join the army when called; 3) abandoning a place in the phalanx line; and 4) throwing away a shield in battle to flee more quickly (Lys. 14.6). Treason was a crime whether a citizen was in the army or not. The last three were all variations of an action that predated polis armies: cowardice. The difference now was that this was apparently written into law in some cities and could lead to legal consequences rather than public disgrace alone. Such penalties represent a change since the time of Aristodemus and Pantites: not only shame but specific punishments apparently prescribed by some sort of court could be imposed.

Examples survive from the Peloponnesian War. The polemarchs Hipponoidas and Aristocles were officially tried and banished for cowardice after the battle of Mantinea (418 b.c. ), and Thucydides implies that there was some sort of formal procedure involved (Thuc. 5.71, with Hornblower 3: 189). On the eve of the second fight off Naupactus (429 b.c. ), one of the Peloponnesian commanders warned his men that cowardice would be punished “as it ought to be” (Thuc. 2.87.9). Political-military turmoil in Argos also in 418 b.c. suggests that a military court had been established which, at the conclusion of a campaign, tried military offenses. Apparently this was not something done on an informal basis: there was a specific procedure for organizing a court, arguing strongly that there were specific laws for such crimes (Thuc. 5.60.6, with Hornblower 3: 158).

After the great Peloponnesian War of the fifth century, the fourth century witnessed further developments. Xenophon’s works, especially the Anabasis , seem to indicate an increasing concern with discipline and good order. The Spartan commander Clearchus demanded discipline from his men and sometimes used physical force to get it (Xen. An . 2.6.9–10). In Sparta, by the time of Leuctra, specific penalties were imposed on tresantes (“runaways,” “cowards”), such as disqualification from office and random beatings from fellow citizens. There were personal humiliations as well: they were forbidden to bathe, were forced to wear ragged clothes, and were obliged to shave off half their beard and leave the other half uncut (Plut. Ages . 30; Xen. Lac . 9.4–5).

Even though there was a general trend toward greater training and discipline in Greek armies during the fifth and fourth centuries, examples of the actual imposition of specific punishments are still rare, and those punishments were usually inflicted only in cases of some form of cowardice. Exemplary punishments to enforce orders and obedience were rarely imposed, except perhaps in the case of mercenaries. The Athenian general Iphicrates once found a sleeping sentry and killed him, later remarking, “I left him as I found him.” Such savage discipline was perhaps unusual among the Greeks, though Epaminondas was said to have acted similarly (Frontin. Str . 3.12.2–3).

The freedoms enjoyed by Homeric soldiers had in many ways been retained through the centuries. Freedom of speech and the freedom to disagree or even to disobey a commander were in many ways still a part of the Greek military experience. There was little to differentiate a citizen from a soldier so most of the rights enjoyed by a citizen were maintained when that citizen became a soldier. Generals in any Greek city were citizens, not professionals, elected by their fellows to command. Once their service was over, they went back to civilian life along with their men. More importantly their conduct could be reviewed and charges could be brought against them in the assembly or in a court before a jury, as often happened in Athens. Sitting in the assemblies and juries could be the very soldiers the generals had recently commanded. This was the great deterrent to any commander who may have wished to impose harsh discipline or maintain order through various punishments. Xenophon’s speech to the army after Cunaxa is highly illustrative (Xen. An . 3.2.30–31). Like Odysseus before him, he is forced to try to persuade the men to follow orders and maintain discipline. By highlighting the gravity of the situation he was in some ways attempting to scare them into being more obedient than was usual. Xenophon even asks for the men’s help to uncover and report acts of disobedience. Even in what was essentially a professional army, and despite the efforts of Xenophon and other officers, the march up-country provided many examples of the freedom of the independent soldiers. They often refused orders, they spoke out against their officers during councils and sometimes rejected their advice (that they were being advised rather than ordered was of course significant), they were insolent, they sometimes even physically attacked their superiors, and they often deserted from one Greek officer to another. Officers, like Xenophon, could even be brought before a tribunal if their men had complaints (Xen. An . 5.8). This was indeed a mobile polis, with the soldiers continuing to exercise many of the same rights they enjoyed as citizens.

In archaic and classical Greek armies training and discipline (again outside of Sparta) were almost nonexistent. In most cities citizens were usually expected to train on their own, and any formal, public training was of the most “elementary” kind (Pritchett 2: 238). Philip II created a new type of army in which new weapons, frequent exercises including long marches, specific training designed to pull off complicated maneuvers on the battlefield, and obedience to orders were more important. In addition the Macedonian chain of command was far more complex than those in the poleis. A chain of command, especially with junior officers in close proximity to the men, enabled Philip to control his units. Also, the very nature of monarchy gave Philip (and his successors) advantages Greek generals did not enjoy. Though his powers were limited by custom and by the Macedonia nobility, the king held office for life. He was not in command for only one year or one campaign, nor was he subject to any type of review or trial after a battle was concluded. He would continue to be the commander far into the future, as long as he won battles and avoided assassination. Soldiers could not be consistently disobedient to a commander whose term would not soon end. This permanence allowed Philip and his successors, especially those who wielded greater powers in the later Seleucid and Ptolemaic states, an increased ability to demand a higher standard of obedience than other, earlier Greek generals.

All this would suggest that a disciplinary system was emerging, one in which obeying orders, especially during complicated battle maneuvers, was of greater importance. Yet much of the success of Philip and Alexander was of a personal nature. Their Homeric-style leadership, their willingness to lead from the front, and their obvious military talents and charisma, in large measure created the discipline in the Macedonian army and legitimated their rule. Their achievements were further rooted in a deft touch that balanced possible rewards (promotion, greater percentage of plunder, cash or land bonuses, and other honors) with the possibility of royal displeasure. They were able to convince their men to obey them and to follow them continuously; in the case of Alexander, all the way to India.

Though training was increased, and the greater duration of the campaigns essentially made these soldiers into professionals, evidence of specific punishments for the breaking of orders is rare. Macedonian soldiers still inherited certain rights from the past. Like Homeric warriors they did have the freedom to speak out to the king, though sometimes their freedom of speech could have tragic results, as in the cases of Philotas and Cleitus. The challenge to Alexander’s leadership raised by the rank and file of his army at the Hyphasis, and seconded by some of the elites, demonstrates again the tentative nature of leadership and discipline in Macedonian armies. Though aspects of this episode have been questioned (see Heckel 2003 ), for the story to work it must have been believable that Macedonian soldiers could make demands of this type on their commander. And, though the army was more sophisticated in terms of training, the motivation for discipline still largely rested on internal inspiration, as it had for centuries. Soldiers overcame the terrors of the battlefield to try to win or maintain a reputation for bravery among their comrades and countrymen for themselves and for their families, and to win honor in sight of the king, along with possible rewards his appreciation might bring.

Hellenistic Armies

The death of Alexander in 323 precipitated almost fifty years of continuous warfare that ultimately led to the creation of the Hellenistic monarchies. This contributed to increased professionalism in Macedonian and Greek armies, whether at home or abroad, and therefore had a direct effect on discipline. It is in this period that the first military law codes develop. The surviving examples date to the reign of Philip V (r. 221–179) but may have been part of Hellenistic armies before this; it may be possible too that contact with well-disciplined Roman armies hastened reforms. An inscription discovered at Amphipolis, though fragmentary, provides some insight into efforts to improve on discipline in the Macedonian kingdom, suggesting a new way of military thinking (see Austin 136–8 for texts).

For the first time we see a Greek military code with specific rules and regulations that govern a far greater spectrum of behavior than just cowardice. No longer is this an informal system, governed by custom. Now discipline was to be maintained by a strict obedience to orders, enforced by specific punishments. As the Amphipolis code clearly states, soldiers guilty of even minor military crimes will be “punished according to the written rules.” Specific offenses are spelled out. Soldiers are not to sit or sleep while on guard duty, they must be in possession of the proper armor, weapons, and other equipment at all times, they cannot plunder or destroy property without orders, and they are required to report any transgression of the code by their fellow soldiers.

Generally, monetary fines were imposed as punishment. Those asleep on guard duty paid one drachma, someone guilty of witnessing a crime and not notifying their superiors was penalized a quarter of a drachma, and the penalty for not having the proper equipment varied from two obols to one drachma. Informants who reported these and other breaches received monetary rewards, which would probably make them more diligent in uncovering offenses. An elaborate chain of command had evolved from older Macedonian models allowing greater control of individual soldiers through the enforcement of the code.

Various officers were given specific duties related to the discovery, reporting and punishment of indiscipline. Tetrarchs were responsible for making the rounds to check on those on guard duty. The hypaspists, who had traditionally been an elite battlefield unit and royal bodyguard, now seem to take on the job of military policemen. They were to discover when offenses went unreported and punish those responsible both for the crime and those who failed to report the crime; they were to collect fines which they were allowed to keep as a reward; and they were to compose “written denunciations” of specific offenders which were to be sent up through channels to the general. All officers were to punish unauthorized plundering and destruction by individual soldiers. Beyond that, provisions were made for military courts to hear cases, and for an officer (exactly who is not clear) to act as a judge.

The Amphipolis code represents a fairly substantial evolution from earlier Greek armies in regard to discipline. To some extent this process had been slowly building from the Homeric period through the Persian and especially Peloponnesian Wars, to the Persian expedition of Xenophon and his Ten Thousand, and the increased emphasis on discipline and training in the fourth century at Thebes and elsewhere. Only in Macedonia, however, has an actual military code emphasizing strict adherence to specific orders and regulations been discovered. Yet even Macedonian discipline paled in comparison to that of Rome. One example will suffice. A Macedonian soldier guilty of either sitting or sleeping on guard duty was fined one drachma; a Roman soldier guilty of the same offense was beaten to death with clubs ( fustuarium ). An awed Polybius (6.37) explains that this was why the Romans kept night watches better than anyone.

Roman Republic

The Roman army represents something completely new in ancient Mediterranean warfare. Certainly Homeric-like desires would be present here to inspire men from the inside to fight well for themselves, their comrades, and their country. Discipline, however, now takes on a whole new meaning since in addition to internal motivation, Roman military custom provided plenty of external incentives to compel, if necessary, Roman soldiers to obey orders and fight well. Numerous military infractions would be systematically punished, sometimes with brutal effectiveness. No longer would shame alone keep men in line. Fear of punishment by their own officers or the state would help keep the men in place and deter them from flight.

As in Macedonian armies, the Romans employed a system consisting of both rewards and punishments. First was positive reinforcement. There were the financial rewards of loyal service, including plunder, specific monetary rewards for bravery in battle, and monetary bonuses at discharge. There were promotions that could be won, soldiers could work their way up to the centurionate with increased authority and higher pay and plunder, and later, with the founding of the Empire, there would be the opportunity to move into elite units such as the Praetorian Guard or evocati, which meant higher pay and exemption from fatigue duties. There were other intangibles which played a role: various honors and symbols for bravery in battle could be bestowed, often in ceremonies at which the whole army might be assembled. Honors included various crowns, such as the corona civica . There were other motivating factors involved as well, such as pride in one’s century, cohort, or legion.

Often the discipline of the men depended on leadership. A number of Roman authors had specific ideas on what constituted a good leader. Cicero said a general must possess military ability and proven success, prestige—by which he meant a noble family background—previous military success, and good luck (Cic. Leg. Man . 27). Caesar too believed that luck played a large role in keeping the soldiers loyal, as did a general’s willingness to share the wealth with his men (Caes. B Gall. 1.40). A general also was expected to share the same hardships and face some of the dangers his men did, which meant eating, marching, and living with them.

If these positive methods were not successful there was always the harsh discipline for which the Romans were famous. Roman legend was full of relevant examples, such as Manlius’s execution of his own son for disobedience. In book four of his Stratagems , Frontinus provides forty-six examples of discipline in ancient armies; thirty-eight come from the Roman Republic (Frontin. Str . 4.1). As Carney and others have noted, the Roman disciplinary system generally bore a “much greater resemblance to modern armies” than did Greek armies (Carney 1996 : 20). Pritchett concurs: “ disciplina militaris ” was a Roman not a Greek virtue (Pritchett 2: 244–5). The military oaths, sacramentum and the ius-iurandum, sworn by Roman soldiers had a direct bearing on this discipline. By the first century b.c. , the importance of the sacramentum to military service, religiously, historically, and legally, had long been established. Sacramentum, with all its important ramifications, was employed only for the swearing in of soldiers either when they first began service or when they received a new general. Caesar, who should have known, used it only in this context (Caes. B Gall. 6.1, B.C. 1.23, 1.86, 2.28, 2.32). No man could serve without taking this oath; he had to be “sworn into service with the sacramentum ” or “he could not legally fight the foe” (Cic. De Off . 1.36–37; Livy 3.53). Once a citizen had sworn the oath he was transformed into a soldier, subject to military law, without many of his civilian rights. His service had officially begun. The distinction between citizen and soldier was illustrated by Caesar’s speech before his mutinous soldiers in 47. According to legend he was able to regain their loyalty simply by addressing them as Quirites —“civilians”—rather than miles , implying that they were no longer in his service (Suet . Iul . 70).

Though the exact formula is unknown, the sacramentum required the men to swear by the gods to assemble when called by their commander, to obey their commander, to do nothing contrary to military law, neither to desert nor disband until discharged, never to flee the battlefield and never to abandon the battle line except to retrieve a weapon, strike an enemy, or save a friend (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom . 10.18, 11.43; Polyb. 6.21; Livy 22.38; Frontin. Str . 4.1.4; Serv. ad Aen. 8.614; Veg. Mil . 2.5). Though it was essentially a very brief formula, it covered all aspects of military behavior. The Romans had a very definite chain of command and very definite ideas on what constituted proper military discipline. Almost any act contrary to military discipline was a breach of the oath. If soldiers violated the oath they could be punished because they had committed sacrilege by breaking the religious sanctity of the oath and were now considered nefas.

The sacramentum is not to be confused with the second oath sworn by Roman soldiers, the ius-iurandum . A mandatory ius-iurandum was sworn in camp when the military tribunes paraded the men and compelled them to vow they would not steal from the camp and would return anything they might find (Polyb. 6.33). A voluntary ius-iurandum was sometimes sworn as a means of extending and enhancing the original sacramentum by boosting morale among the men and increasing their cohesiveness, especially during times of crisis (Caes. B Civ. 1.76, 3.12–13, 3.86–87).

The presence of these oaths distinguished Roman armies from earlier Greek and Macedonian forces. Comparisons with early modern armies can provide illumination. During the sixteenth century Tudor armies became modern in the sense that feudal and personal aspects of the military service were replaced with impersonal military codes and punishments. Most important was the introduction of the military oath, the breaking of which made the soldiers liable to well-defined punishments. As Phillips notes, “the swearing of the oath” was “the basis for the military disciplinary system” (Phillips 2001 : 327).

In Rome the mandatory oaths sworn by the men to their commander forbade certain types of behavior. Offenses included mutiny, disobeying the orders of the commander, cowardice in battle, desertion, loss of a weapon in combat, lying to superiors, homosexuality, sleeping on guard duty, and camp theft. Breaking the oaths meant a guilty miles or centurion was no longer protected by Roman law, and punishments, sometimes brutal, could be imposed. Pay could be withheld or reduced, or fines could be imposed. Soldiers could be reduced in rank. They could be dishonorably discharged or even exiled. They could be sold into slavery. Various humiliations could be imposed. Scourging and flogging were common. A soldier’s hand could be chopped off. Individual executions were often carried out, in some cases by the particularly horrible method of the fustuarium (cudgeling to death). Decimation was also employed throughout the Republic. Usually discipline was inflicted in public at a camp contio , not only to punish the guilty party or parties but also as a warning to the others.

The elaborate, formal chain of command in the Roman army played a large role in the discovery and punishment of these offenses. First, the small number of men in each century would sometimes make it difficult for soldiers to hide transgressions from the nearby centurion. Also, military tribunes were designated to hear cases in the principia and had the power to impose fines, restrict pay or supplies, or order corporal punishment. It was the military tribunes who tried soldiers accused of major crimes in a court martial.

While discipline played a large role in Roman army life and in Roman military success, a certain balance does need to be maintained. Contrary to the picture painted by Polybius and many modern historians, the Roman republican soldier was not always a robot unquestioningly obedient to his commander (Ziolkowski 1993 : 86–9). He did not demonstrate “absolute, mindless obedience” at all times (Goldsworthy 1996 : 281). As Messer long ago noted, the Roman soldier “arrogated to himself an amount of independent thought and action which was quite on par with that claimed by the Greek soldier and far beyond that with which the Roman soldier is credited” (Messer 1920 : 174).

As both catalyst and product of such events as the Struggle of the Orders, the secessions of the plebes, and the political victories of the plebeian order through the intervention of the army, the Roman soldier was first and foremost a citizen vested with certain important rights. He inherited too a long tradition of independent thought and action. As such, despite the oaths and various military regulations, soldiers expected to be able to express their opinions freely on literally any matter about which they were concerned, especially, obviously, matters pertaining to their military situation and their conditions of service (for the scores of examples of soldiers speaking freely in camp, and the ramifications of this speech, see Chrissanthos 2004 : 341–67).

Though it has been argued that “neither the questioning of orders nor the attempts to negotiate the course of a campaign was generally tolerated,” this traditional view is simply not supported by the evidence (Brice 2003 : 64). There were apparently no restrictions, legal or otherwise, that might prevent the average Roman soldier from exercising freedom of speech in camp. All Roman soldiers swore the sacramentum when they were inducted into the army. The soldiers, however, swore no oath that deprived them of their freedom of speech. Also, there was no known military law during the Republic that restricted freedom of speech in camp or mandated any punishment of “guilty” soldiers. Much later writers do speak of specific military laws to restrict freedom of speech in camp during the Empire. Those guilty of participating in loud, disorderly meetings would be beaten and discharged. Those guilty of clamoring and complaining would be reduced in rank (Rufus, Military Laws 17; Corpus Juris Civilis 20).

Yet nothing is found in Polybius or Caesar or even Livy that indicates there was ever any formal or informal discipline imposed by a commander, lower-ranking officers, or centurions on soldiers who were guilty merely of speaking their minds during the Republic. The famous example of L. Aemilius Paullus before Pydna is the exception (Livy 44.34). Even later authors such as Frontinus and Valerius Maximus preserve no anecdotes of such a military law being invoked. Roman political and military history dating back to the first secession provides many examples of this freedom in action. Though these may or may not be true, they represent what the Romans believed to be true. Therefore this encouraged the exercise of free speech in camp, not just for the officers but also for the common soldier.

Therefore, Roman citizen-soldiers (and not the socii or foreign auxiliaries) could and did express opinions on any matter pertaining to military service and army life. They expressed their views on the course of a campaign and debated, praised, or criticized the military strategies and tactics of their superiors (Caes. B Gall. 5.31, B Civ. 1.47). Sometimes, they did not agree with a commander’s strategy (Livy 27.26, 44.3–8; Polyb. 3.89). Soldiers often expressed rage and indignation among themselves at the unwillingness of their commanders to lead them into battle (Caes. B Gall. 3.24, 6.36, B Civ. 1.7, 1.64, 1.71, 1.72, 2.33, 3.6, B Af . 82; Livy 7.12). There are examples of soldiers being afraid of impending conflict (Caes. B Gall. 1.39–1.41, B.Civ. 1.20, 2.29, 2.43–44). Sometimes rumors flew freely through the camp, exaggerating an already bad military situation (Caes. B Civ. 2.27–2.43, B Af. 10). Soldiers often complained among themselves about the conditions of service regarding pay, plunder, length of service, and harsh discipline (Cass. Dio 36.6; Plut. Luc. 32–34, Caes. 37; Livy 28.24). Soldiers were sometimes concerned with dire religious omens (Plut. Crass. 19, 23). Sometimes soldiers even discussed the mood of their commander (Sal. Iug . 82). In every Roman army, on an almost continuous basis, these concerns and issues were discussed.

The setting of the camp facilitated the exercise of libertas and with it free expression by citizen-soldiers. Camp geography highlighted a link between a Roman citizen and a Roman soldier. Political assemblies in Rome and military assemblies in camp were both labeled contiones . They were both held in a forum, either the Forum Romanum or the camp forum. The platform from which politicians spoke in Rome and the platform from which generals spoke in camp was usually referred to as the rostra. The purpose of the camp contio was often the same as the contio in Rome: information was to be relayed, decisions to be explained, and Roman citizens to be convinced of something.

The way in which a general presented himself in camp rostra was hardly different from a politician speaking in Rome, and the behavior of the soldiers in the camp forum was little different from the behavior of the people in the Roman Forum. There was an obvious “political meaning to the assemblies” in camp (Polo 1995 : 215). Discussions among the soldiers would sometimes lead to free expression at these meetings as soldiers could make their opinions known at official camp contiones. They could cheer or voice their approval. They could remain silent as a sign of respect. They could speak directly to their commander on the tribunal. They could jeer the speaker, and even drown him out by shouting their disapproval. They could remain silent or wander away from the meeting to show their displeasure. The soldiers could even resort to violence at contiones , attacking or even killing their commander.

In short, the camp contio could represent an important expression of libertas by providing the men with a forum in which to express their grievances (see further Chrissanthos 2004 : 341–67). In addition, the soldiers’ tents were usually some distance from the tents of the commander and the officers in the principia, encouraging freedom of expression. There were open spaces next to the soldiers’ tents, in which many routine duties were carried out. Since their tents were small, the soldiers spent much of their time in those open spaces. It was here that the soldiers talked, commiserating, complaining, and speaking out. The camp chain of command also provided an avenue of expression. Often soldiers used their centurions or even their military tribunes to relay requests, concerns, or demands up through the ranks to their commander.

On many occasions the soldiers were able to convince their commander to redress certain grievances or even to change his military strategies. Roman soldiers unable to change the minds of their officers often resorted to more forceful methods. Mutiny, the ultimate breakdown of discipline, occurred sixty times in the Roman Republican army. Forty-five of these mutinies happened between the Social War and Actium, meaning 16 percent of all Roman armies during this period experienced a mutiny. Not only did these incidents occur quite often, they usually achieved their goals: 72 percent of all mutinies (43/60) ended in success for the mutineers and, maybe more tellingly, despite widespread belief in Rome’s harsh system of military discipline, mutineers were actually punished on only ten occasions (17 percent). Of these ten cases, we know of nine specific acts of punishment, including: trials in Rome to punish officers, decimation of the army or decimation of the ringleaders alone, execution of all ringleaders, and the execution of all the mutineers. In these instances the famed Roman discipline was employed successfully. Yet, despite the Roman system of discipline and reputation for harshness, when the numbers are analyzed it becomes clear that the actual punishment of mutineers was rare.

Roman Empire

Once in power Augustus implemented wide-ranging reforms and by 13 b.c. he had created Rome’s first professional army. No longer would temporary armies be created to deal with temporary threats. Now there would be twenty-eight legions of 5,500 men plus cavalry reinforced by a similar number of auxiliary units. Altogether, there would be a permanent standing force of about 300,000 men. These men would serve for defined periods of time. Originally the term called for sixteen years of active service followed by four years in reserve. Those periods were extended in 6 b.c. to twenty and five years (Cass. Dio 55.23).

The key to this system, in enticing volunteers and in keeping soldiers happy while performing a difficult job, was, of course, money. One of the most frequent causes of trouble during the Republic had been money. Problems included irregular pay, unfair or infrequent distribution of plunder, and dissatisfaction with discharge bonuses of cash and land or the lack thereof. Augustus was able to make significant economic improvements to military service. He provided pay of 225 denarii, the same amount distributed by Caesar, which was itself a doubling of the previous stipend provided by the state. This pay would be distributed regularly, and would not be subject to the whim of a general or the senatorial government.

This was important because Republican soldiers often did not receive pay in a timely fashion. Donatives were granted by Augustus, but were usually not large or frequent. Though the pay was not extravagant, the key to the system was the retirement benefits. Augustus provided either a cash bonus or land or both to men who had served their time. It seems that after 13 b.c. men often received money instead of land: 12,000 sesterces or about twelve years’ pay (Cass. Dio. 54.25). Estimates vary, but possibly as many as 200,000 men received benefits during the first three decades of Augustus’s reign. These included mass discharges in 30 to 28 and 14 b.c . To cover all these expenditures, Augustus established the aerarium militare in a.d. 6. To help fund this military treasury, Augustus donated his own money, and later supplemented that with sales and inheritance taxes ( Mon. Anc . 17). These steps were fundamental to the creation of a permanent, professional army. The soldiers would now receive these economic benefits “as a right and no longer as a privilege” (Watson 1969 : 147). These economic reforms, at least for much of the Principate, helped keep the soldiers happy, or at least happy enough that one important cause of indiscipline was removed.

Money aside, a soldier’s willingness to overcome the fears of battle was still at least partially based on his desire to fight courageously in front of his comrades and earn a reputation for bravery, as it seems to have been since Homeric times. But other positive incentives that rewarded disciplined conduct included a large number of decorations such as the various coronae ( aurea , vallaris , muralis ), torques , armillae , and phalerae (for an exhaustive list of decorations, for both men and units, see Maxwell 1981 ). Whole units or even whole legions could receive rewards for bravery, an honor known too in modern armies. Soldiers also now attached even greater loyalty to the legion itself as each unit now had a specific number and name, and often nicknames as well, to denote special honors or achievements or the favor of a particular emperor. Further positive incentives included hopes for promotion, especially to the centurionate. A promotion not only recognized a soldier’s valor and the respect of his comrades and superiors, it also represented an opportunity for an increased salary and percentage of the plunder. Lastly, an honorable discharge was extremely important because only then could a soldier collect his rewards of land and money, and if he were in the centurionate or above, he could step into an elevated social position in civil society. All of these potential rewards would not only entice volunteers to enlist but generally would also help keep them obedient to orders.

If these positive incentives were insufficient, Roman military discipline could still be used to coerce proper behavior. Josephus, like Polybius before him, recognized that fear played a large role in the discipline, and the effectiveness, of the Roman soldier. The range of possible punishments actually remained very similar to the Republican period. Decimation could still be enforced. Execution of individual soldiers for the crimes of mutiny, desertion, or insubordination still took place. Lesser punishments were inflicted for lesser infractions, including corporal punishment, monetary fines, increased fatigue duties, demotion, reduction of pay or plunder, dishonorable discharge, and other punishments designed to publicly humiliate the soldier. Tacitus’s account of the mutinies of a.d. 14 demonstrates that harsh discipline was still imposed which, not surprisingly, often led to bitterness among the men. Centurions were “the customary targets of the army’s ill-will” since they carried out the various punishments (figure 15.1 ). One famous example was the centurion Lucilius who was nicknamed “ cedo alteram ” or “Give me another” by his men because whenever he broke a rod over a soldier’s back he would call again for another and then another (Tac. An . 1.23).

Though many harsh punishments were within the legal purview of the commander, it is unknown how often extreme measures were actually inflicted. Of the forty-six episodes in Frontinus’s discussion of discipline (4.1), only two date to the Empire compared with thirty-eight from the Republic. The two imperial examples both occurred in armies of Corbulo, who was renowned for his “old-fashioned” discipline. In a.d. 14, Aufidienus Rufus, one of the camp prefects who was attacked by the mutinous men, was hated, Tacitus tells us, because he favored “strict old-fashioned service conditions.” Because of the major revolts in Illyria and Pannonia in a.d. 6, it had been necessary to conscript unwilling citizens, some off the streets of Rome, into the army. These unwilling soldiers may not have been nearly as obedient as willing volunteers necessitating harsher discipline than was the norm. Yet it is possible that Corbulo and Rufus were exceptions and that commanders generally did not always adhere to the strict letter of the law and that mitigating factors were sometimes considered. In an army requiring large numbers of volunteers, a slight relaxation of discipline may have been necessary to entice recruits.

A Roman centurion with cudgel in hand. A modern reconstruction from Römerwelt, Rheinbrohl/Bad Honnigen, Germany. Photo Credit: L. Tritle.

Though no written military codes from the early Empire have survived they must have developed at some point. Military law would later become a branch of the general study of law. P. Taruttienus Paternus, a Praetorian Prefect during the reign of M. Aurelius, was the first known jurist to write on military law (see Watson 1969 : 71, 76, 182, n.179). By his time, formal military laws were in place, and most likely were far older. The professional and permanent nature of Roman military service from the time of Augustus necessitated a new and comprehensive set of rules and regulations to govern life in the camp and on campaign. Due to the revolutionary nature of this new Imperial army as the first and certainly the largest permanent and professional force in Greek and Roman history, the Principate represented a major step in the evolution of ancient military discipline.

This discussion has outlined the evolution of discipline from its humble beginnings in Homeric Greece through its refinement and codification in the Hellenistic period to the creation of a more modern system in Republican and especially Imperial Rome. Rome’s fall would bring this type of military disciplinary system to an end in the West as things came full circle. Medieval Europe was characterized by armies more similar to Homer than to Rome. Not until the sixteenth century would modern systems comparable to Rome’s again develop (see Phillips 2001 ). Paralleling ancient times, this process was caused in part by the breakdown in feudalism and the decline of feudal military arrangements and the concomitant rise of more sophisticated governments. It may also have been inspired by the rediscovery of the classics which chronicled in great detail the success of the Roman army and the legendary discipline upon which that success was built, or on the acquisition of Byzantine texts which included numerous military codes. Machiavelli argued from ancient historical precedent that a state could only survive if it possessed good laws and a good army, and that there “can be no good laws where there are no good armies” ( Prince 12). Undisciplined mercenary armies were ineffective and dangerous, and states which employed them were doomed to destruction. In contrast, armies filled with patriotic citizen-soldiers were disciplined and provided reliable defense and preserved freedom. Rome was his ideal.

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Good Essay On The Importance Of Military Courtesy

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Communication , Veterans , Team , Soldiers , Discipline , Teamwork , Success , Military

Words: 1200

Published: 02/25/2020

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The military is an organization usually authorized by its greater society to use lethal force in defending its nation state by fighting perceived or actual threats. Throughout the history of military services, there have been many established traditions that illustrate a high level of discipline and courtesy. Custom is described as a way of acting in a manner that has been continued constantly for a long period of time and the act has come to be accepted by the larger society as the norm. Courtesy on the other hand refers to a way of displaying good manners and politeness when interacting with other people. Discipline entails the training that soldiers undergo to develop character, self control and efficiency. The subjection to exerted control is usually for the good of the military unit. Military courtesy is one of the features among many other features that define a professional military force (Bailey, 28). The concept of military courtesy entails several forms that constitute a strict and in other cases an elaborate code of conduct. Examples of military courtesies include proper forms of address, the salute, proper wear of military headgear, related concepts of standing at attention and rules of behavior in various ceremonies.

Military courtesy has over the years been known to convey respect both down and up the chain of command. The most commonly recognized form of courtesy and custom is the military salute. This has been recognized as an exchange of greetings ever since the age of good manners. During this time in history, the knights were mounted with steel armor that completely covered their body. When two friendly knights met, it was custom for one to raise his visor and expose their face to another. Since the left hand was used to hold the reins, the salute gesture was always done with the right hand. Furthermore, since the right hand was also used as the sword hand, the salute gesture involved removing the right hand from the vicinity of the weapon hence creating a friendlier environment and act of confidence (Bailey, 32). In as much as the age of the steel body armor is long gone, the raising of the right hand is recognized as the proper form of greetings between soldiers. The military salute is usually presented in a manner of pride when recognizing a fellow military comrade in the honorable profession of artillery. Another historical account of the development of the salute greeting is that it begun in the late Roman times when assassinations were the order of the day. Therefore, any civilian who desired to see a public official had to approach while raising his right hand in order to indicate that he did not hold any weapon. In the contemporary society, it is established that soldiers should salute all civilians entitled by the custom to the salute, the national flag, and commissioned officers using a proper manner of saluting.

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Military courtesies and customs have proven essential in providing guidelines for all actions in which all military members are expected to follow. In practicing courteous communication for example, a military soldier addressing a higher ranking officer is usually expected to use the word ma’am or sir in a similar manner as any polite civilian would do when addressing someone they wish to show respect. The difference between the two however, is that the matter of who gets to say sir or madam is clearly defined in the military service as opposed to the civilian life whereby it becomes a matter of discretion. Still on the aspect of courteous communication, the military insists on clear communication and alignment. The language used by the soldiers such as “mission”, “tactics” and “vision” is important in reinforcing their mindset hence influence how they think. Their actions whatsoever are therefore directed towards achievement of certain outcomes. The military units are also known to create high performing teams that define the team’s goals, the member’s responsibilities and roles and their action plans (Snider et al, 41-15). This empowers the soldiers to be part of high performing team in their organizational setting. In as much as we may all desire leadership positions, successful outcomes are best realized when people are part of a team and are willing to be good followers. The military is also known for the strength of training the soldiers to evaluate a dynamic environment and make a move in the face of uncertainty. The military achieves this by having a clear vision accompanied by specific missions that enable the soldiers act in alignment with the organizational objectives. To further ensure that organization activities continue running such as in a combat system, the military ensures that junior officers are trained to assume the roles of their superior at the moment of notification. Last but not least, courteous communication entails asking for help when need be in order to get a certain job done to perfection. In a military unit, one maybe leading an efficient team but still requires resources from another division which triggers the need to ask for help.

It is important to note that military courtesy is not only accorded to senior officials but also to subordinates hence reinforcing the aspect of functioning as a unit. This concept is extremely important in achieving organizational success thus making the military an outstanding organization that can be emulated by other paramilitary organizations seeking to achieve success. Military courtesy is important since it is an expression of consideration for other soldiers. It promotes good relationship within the military unit (Snider et al, 38). It is through courteous greetings and communication that closer coordination and teamwork among the members of the military is realized. Military courtesy is also of vital importance in promoting and developing a proper spirit of togetherness among soldiers. It is intended to reinforce the chain of command and discipline hence defines how soldiers treat their superiors and how the superiors treat their juniors.

Military courtesy reflects self discipline and shows respect. Since the military operates as a unit, consistent and proper military courtesy is a clear indicator of unit discipline. Simple courtesy is an important indicator of an individual’s bearing, manners and discipline. Several psychological researches indicate that most people respond positively to genuine courtesy and politeness. The spirit of togetherness is important in exploring different avenues that would bring about the realization of organizational goals. It is no wonder when the military set out to combat perceived or actual threat they always come out successful and ensure the safety of the majority of the civilians. The same applies to soldiers whereby courteous greeting restate pride in the unit and make obvious the professionalism and discipline of a unit’s soldiers. It can be concluded that military courtesy is an extension and formalization of courtesies that characterize mankind’s culture in everyday life.

Bailey, Theodore L. Military Courtesy. New York: Review Publishing Co, 1919. Print. Snider, Don M, Don M. Snider, John A. Nagl, and Tony Pfaff. Army Professionalism, the Military Ethic, and Officer ship in the 21st Century. Carlisle Barracks, Pa.: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 1999. Print.

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From the military to the workforce: How to leverage veterans’ skills

US employers face multiple challenges when it comes to filling jobs and retaining workers, including a shortage of skilled labor and an aging workforce. To meet the moment in this era of technological change, some companies are broadening their hiring lens beyond the traditional college résumé. They are evaluating candidates on their capacity to learn , their intrinsic capabilities, and their transferable skills.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Scott Blackburn , Michael Kim, Charlie Lewis , Hannah Oh, and Kallman Parry.

This is where military veterans can make a difference. Veterans represent a source of labor potential that is untapped relative to the breadth of experience and depth of skills  that they acquire and develop during their service. Members of the military receive technical training, operate under pressure in austere environments, and develop strong interpersonal skills throughout their service, making them well qualified for numerous civilian occupations. While not every military role is directly transferrable to a civilian job, most skills are—including those that correspond to US industries experiencing labor shortages, such as infrastructure and manufacturing.

And veterans aren’t the only ones who stand to benefit from a longer look by employers: the economic opportunity of unleashing the value of veterans’ work experience through skills-based hiring could reach almost $15 billion over a ten-year period, new McKinsey research shows.

In this article, we explore the complex employment picture for military veterans , including in jobs and industries that will be most affected by automation and generative AI . We look at actions the military can take to help service members prepare for their transition to civilian work. We focus particularly on enlisted veterans, who make up the majority of those shifting out each year but who tend to fare worse in the labor market because employers don’t recognize their technical skills. We then discuss ways that the military and the private sector can close the veteran opportunity gap by improving employment outcomes.

The veteran employment landscape

Military veterans are not a homogeneous demographic, nor is their labor profile. Veterans’ work experiences differ by age, skills, and educational degrees. Our research shows that, in the aggregate, veterans with bachelor’s degrees and those skilled through alternate routes (known as STARs 1 According to the not-for-profit Opportunity@Work, STARs are individuals who are at least 25 years old, are currently active in the workforce, and who have a high school diploma but no bachelor’s degree. ) outearn their nonveteran peers (Exhibit 1).

Veteran STARs are, on average, eight years older and earn $3.91 more per hour than civilian STARs, though they tend to cluster in fewer, technical occupations. The largest veteran STAR group is aged 45 to 54; this cohort has the highest median hourly wage ($26.44) of all STAR groups. The group with the highest median hourly wage overall ($42.58) is made up of veterans aged 55 to 64 and with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

The roles with the highest representation of veterans are often analogs of military specialties. These roles include aircraft pilots, flight engineers, and aircraft mechanics and service technicians, as well as detectives and criminal investigators. Veterans are also well-represented in middle- to high-wage occupations that are accessible from low-wage jobs and rarely require an undergraduate degree. These roles include occupational-health and safety specialists and technicians, crane and tower operators, paramedics, and construction and building inspectors.

When viewed as a monolith, veterans are doing relatively well. But when broken down into subsets, many veterans are struggling to find jobs that use, recognize, and compensate them commensurate with their level of military experience. This is especially true for those who have difficulty translating their experience to civilian employment opportunities—in particular, veterans without a four-year degree, who represent 61 percent of all employed veterans. 2 Opportunity@Work analysis of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) 2021 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS).

Of the roughly 150,000 active-duty service members who transition from the military each year, 3 Demographics report , US Department of Defense, 2021. approximately 90,500 earn less in their first year after being discharged than they did on active duty, resulting in billions of dollars of lost economic value (Exhibit 2). 4 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) 2022 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS), as well as data analysis of the US Census Bureau’s Veteran Employment Outcomes. And while some categories of veterans fare better than others—including former officers, as well as Special Forces and personnel who specialized in intelligence, IT, and cyber operations—veterans across categories are, on average, entering the civilian workforce at lower median wages than they had in the military.

Enlisted service members are disproportionately affected: veteran STARs tend to occupy lower-paying and more physically demanding roles than veterans with bachelor’s degrees, indicating that they may be hampered by not having a four-year degree.

Our methodology

To understand the lost economic opportunity associated with the lower wages for transitioning enlisted service members, we grouped junior enlisted service members who had undervalued occupational skills and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) who had undervalued managerial skills. We identified the one-year postdischarge salary for each category as a baseline, then assigned best-fit skills-based careers to each category. We narrowed the field of choices by factoring in required education, preparation needed, and projected annual job openings. Based on those choices, we identified salaries and calculated projected future earnings. We then determined the economic difference between current and potential salaries for all categories. Top careers included registered nurses; electricians; first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers; industrial-machinery mechanics; and municipal and forest firefighters.

The cohort of enlisted veterans postdischarge excludes occupational groups (intelligence, Special Operations forces, and IT) that earn roughly equal to or greater than their last year of active-duty regular military compensation. The comparison of actual and potential average salary for enlisted veterans postdischarge is based on the latest data set to track income relative to military occupation from the US Census Bureau’s Veteran Employment Outcomes, which covers army veterans who left active-duty service between 2000 and 2015. 1 “Veteran Employee Outcomes,” US Census Bureau, accessed October 24, 2023. Actual earnings are from the Department of Labor; future-earnings projections are based on the 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics annual wage increase and converted to 2018 dollars to match the Department of Labor data set. We also referred to the Department of Defense’s digital employment tool, Occupational Information Network, or O*NET; a 2023 RAND report on service members’ knowledge, skills, and abilities 2 Elizabeth Hastings Roer, Jeffrey B. Wenger, and Jonathan P. Wong, Military-to-civilian occupational matching: Using the O*NET to provide match recommendations for the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force , RAND, 2023. ; and an internal survey of veterans working at McKinsey that matched the RAND findings.

McKinsey analyzed what the total potential loss of annual earnings for a cohort of 90,500 transitioning enlisted service members would mean in terms of lost overall economic potential (Exhibit 3). The research, which combined labor data and a skills-based analysis, found that the economic potential of improving employment outcomes for a single cohort of transitioning veterans could be almost $15 billion over a ten-year period (see sidebar, “Our methodology”). This presents a significant opportunity for the military, the private sector, and not-for-profit organizations supporting veterans as employers seek workers with ready-made skills.

How veterans’ skills apply to jobs—now and in the future

In the broad economic context, McKinsey research on the US labor market shows a disconnect  between available jobs and people qualified to fill them. Two industries in particular stand out: infrastructure and manufacturing.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is expected to create hundreds of thousands of additional jobs on projects ranging from roads, bridges, and waterways to clean energy and electric vehicles. However, a labor crunch in construction jobs exists across sectors, occupations, and geographies . In manufacturing, McKinsey analysis suggests that reviving the industry —in which the bulk of employees don’t need four-year degrees—could boost GDP and add up to 1.5 million jobs. 5 “ Delivering the US manufacturing renaissance ,” McKinsey, August 29, 2022.

Veterans map well to these high-demand jobs. To identify the specific actions that can help improve veterans’ employment outcomes in these industries and others, the research matched military specialties and skills to their full spectrum of civilian occupations. The goal was to identify high-potential pathways that are likely to improve veterans’ livelihoods based on skill overlap. 6 To focus the analysis and gain an understanding of the distribution of veterans across occupations, their education attainment levels, and incomes today, we examined employment and demographic data from external sources such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the US Census Bureau, in addition to analysis from internal sources such as the McKinsey Global Institute. For the purposes of this research, veterans’ livelihood represents their overall well-being, as well as the strength of their means to provide essentials (for example, food, shelter, clothing, healthcare) to support themselves and their families. Our ratings of veterans’ occupational skills were based on a 2023 RAND survey of more than 5,100 veterans and augmented with a small sample of McKinsey veteran employees. For more, see Elizabeth Hastings Roer, Jeffrey B. Wenger, and Jonathan P. Wong, Military-to-civilian occupational matching: Using the O*NET to provide match recommendations for the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force , RAND, 2023.

The analysis found that enlisted veterans are highly rated on occupational skills associated with trades such as electricians, mechanics, and construction professionals. For example, veterans were consistently rated higher on technical skills such as installation, equipment maintenance, repairing, and troubleshooting than the threshold required for the average civilian occupation.

Conversely, enlisted veterans were rated lower on “softer” occupational skills associated with management, sales, and office and administrative-support roles, such as reading comprehension, persuasion, and negotiation, suggesting real or perceived deficiencies in interpersonal skills that are required to succeed in business environments. However, these lower ratings tended to improve with military rank and the accompanying experience that rank brings, as both midlevel and senior noncommissioned officers (NCOs) scored above average on all occupational skills. 7 Melissa A. Bradley et al., Helping soldiers leverage army knowledge, skills, and abilities in civilian jobs , RAND, 2017.

Veterans overall score higher on service orientation, which the analysis defined as “actively looking for ways to help other people,” than the threshold for the average civilian occupation. However, this skill may not fully capture inherent veteran strengths, such as dependability, punctuality, discipline, and integrity.

While the typical veteran tool kit favors technical ability over verbal and written communication, veterans can consider developing and refining their soft skills to allow for better access to high-potential “gateway” roles , while continuing to pursue in-demand occupations that require technical skills. 8 “New research finds workers without four-year degrees not realizing wage gains despite having the skills for higher-wage work; identifies 51 job roles that unlock economic mobility,” Opportunity@Work press release, accessed October 30, 2023. These roles create a bridge between frontline work and destination roles, which require higher-level skills training and academic credentials.

The top 15 occupations that employ veterans today are generally expected to experience strong positive labor demand change and low change-of-work activities in the coming years as digitization and other technological changes take hold  (Exhibit 4). These occupations include nursing (expected to experience a 41 percent increase in labor demand); laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (a 26 percent increase); construction laborers (a 22 percent increase); and truck drivers (a 12 percent increase). Veterans can continue to pursue these occupations at even higher rates.

On the other hand, certain occupations that employ veterans are at risk of displacement due to declining job demand and adoption of automation, as well as the acceleration of generative AI in these occupations. This includes retail salespeople (expected to experience a 23 percent decrease in labor demand), supervisors of office and administrative-support workers (a 20 percent decrease), and customer service representatives (a 14 percent decrease).

Transitioning veterans can consider avoiding these roles, and veterans already in these occupations can continue to focus on upskilling, while taking advantage of reskilling opportunities to move into more secure occupations. Veterans looking to move into more senior positions can also use generative AI tools to their own advantage to help boost their capabilities and output.

Veterans looking to move into more senior positions can use generative AI tools to their own advantage to help boost their capabilities and output.

Several gateway occupations offer high potential to improve veterans’ livelihoods, including heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) mechanics and installers, human resources specialists, and industrial-machinery mechanics. However, these occupations are being accessed by less than 2 percent of employed veterans today (Exhibit 5).

Closing the opportunity gap: Actions stakeholders can take

We’ve looked at the skills that many veterans offer and the potential roles that a majority of veterans pursue, including gateway jobs for those without four-year degrees. To carve out better pathways and help make transitions more successful for those who need more support, the military services and employers can consider the following interventions.

The military: Recruit, retain, retrain

The military can address three recruiting and retention challenges by communicating the value of service and how skills developed in the military can translate to future careers.

Reverse declining interest in military service. The US military itself is facing a recruiting crisis that is likely to worsen if the value proposition of employment beyond military service doesn’t improve. 9 Ben Kesling, “The military recruiting crisis: Even veterans don’t want their families to join,” Wall Street Journal , June 30, 2023. The general population is largely unaware of the benefits of service, with 50 percent of young people saying they know little to nothing about military service and its unique professional-development offerings. 10 “Facts and figures,” US Army Recruiting Command, accessed August 29, 2023.

To shift perceptions and to help support candidates on their holistic career journey, the military can train recruiters to promote how service-developed skills can lead to well-compensated civilian careers and improved livelihoods, including how different military specialties map to various civilian occupations. As discussed earlier, there are several high-potential career pathways that are open to veterans that will continue be viable even as AI adoption increases. Recruiters who can communicate the value of military service in the context of these pathways could improve interest levels over the longer term.

The US Department of Defense (DOD) and service branches can launch a public relations campaign that highlights how the military develops desirable skills during service and provides support, education, and training opportunities during and beyond the transition. These programs include the GI Bill, tuition and credentials assistance, leadership academies, military occupation-related training, and SkillBridge, which allows transitioning service members to intern with civilian employers during the last 90 to 180 days of their service. 11 For more, see Army Credentialing Opportunities Online (Army COOL), US Army; “Education and training,” US Department of Veterans Affairs; “Tuition assistance,” US Army; and “What is SkillBridge?,” US Department of Defense, all sources accessed October 23, 2023.

Reduce disparities in commercial-sector employment opportunities . As noted earlier, the military has effective transition programs aimed at increasing the presence of veterans in the tech space and elsewhere. In one example of a successful transition, a naval flight officer looking for a civilian job emphasized her experiences in combat, as a NATO instructor, and in leading teams. Through the DOD SkillBridge program, she found a role focusing on public sector sales at a tech start-up. Starting as a customer success manager, she was promoted three times to a director-level role at the company, which is now a unicorn.

However, in many cases the digital career tools available to those transitioning to civilian work are inconsistent and often focus on literal job translations, neglecting inputs beyond military occupational specialties, such as rank, education, and formal training. For instance, recruiters from the Army and the Marine Corps receive different career recommendations from a widely used digital tool, the DOD’s Occupational Information Network, or O*NET, which transitioning service members are encouraged to use to evaluate potential careers.

Service members with critical skills, such as cyber-operations specialists and unpiloted-aerial-systems operators, are more likely to leave for commercial opportunities after their first enlistment, while other specialties are less in demand because of a lack of clear occupational analogs. The services could adopt reenlistment incentives that amplify the value of more military experience for skill development, rather than providing potentially ineffective financial incentives for service members so they stay for an additional enlistment.

For instance, promoting the long-term NCO tool kit, with a focus on leadership of personnel and resources, could improve both retention and recruiting outcomes. The services could enhance NCO leadership academies to offer upskilling and additional training, which improve the likelihood of employment in civilian occupations that offer increased earning power.

The military could also promote occupations such as nursing, which has a significant labor shortage, with more than 200,000 openings annually . Veterans with experience as medics are well suited for nursing roles. In addition, the military could offer nursing prerequisites on base as a part of its Installation Education Centers and highlight veterans in diverse nursing careers (in intensive care units, emergency rooms, and flight or transport roles).

In another individual example, an air force aerospace medical technician earned his associate’s degree in nursing while in the service, then used the GI Bill to complete his bachelor’s degree in nursing after leaving the air force. He then went on to earn his MBA and is now a healthcare consultant.

Increase job satisfaction rates. Twenty-two percent of active service members report dissatisfaction with their military experience, 12 See “Military-to-civilian occupational matching,” 2023; and “Navy readiness: Actions needed to evaluate and improve surface warfare officer career path,” US Government Accountability Office, June 17, 2021. a percentage that spikes further in certain demographics, such as the 88 percent of female Naval Surface Warfare Officers who leave within their first ten years.

To encourage younger generations to seek out military service as a career, the military can partner with more universities, trade associations, and employers to diversify the service member experience and to allow service members to pursue opportunities outside their specialty while still contributing to the capabilities of their service.

The private sector: Build a talent model around skills

As the United States invests in infrastructure- and climate-related projects, the labor shortage the country is currently experiencing may only grow . And as generative AI and other technologies take off, productivity changes will likely affect the occupations that veterans pursue and the skills that transitioning service members will need to be competitive for employment.

To help expand talent pools , corporate leaders should take note that 60 percent of American workers over the age of 25 don’t hold a four-year degree. 13 “Hire for the skills it takes to do the job,” Opportunity@Work, accessed October 24, 2023. That roughly matches the percentage of those transitioning out of the military who don’t have a bachelor’s degree.

By moving to a skills-based approach, companies can boost the number and quality of applicants  who apply to open positions. Internally, they can build skills and retrain their existing workforces to prepare people for new roles. Retention improves when workers find more opportunities to advance internally, McKinsey research shows . 14 Sandra Durth, Asmus Komm, Florian Pollner, and Angelika Reich, “ Reimagining people development to overcome talent challenges ,” McKinsey, March 3, 2023. Skills-based practices have a greater impact when they’re implemented across the whole talent journey, including in sourcing, hiring, and career development.

Companies can also set targets for veteran recruitment and hiring. One company that has pledged to hire veterans is Micron, which is building a $100 billion semiconductor plant in upstate New York. 15 Steve Lohr, “Micron pledges up to $100 billion for semiconductor factory in New York,” New York Times , October 4, 2022. Of the 9,000 people it expects to hire for the plant, Micron is aiming to hire 1,500 veterans, or 17 percent of its workforce. The company has found that veterans are a good fit for the semiconductor industry because of their experience with heavy machinery and technology, along with their disciplined mindset and team-building skills.

In the public sector, US states and local governments that are receiving BIL funding  can reserve a portion of jobs for veterans, just as they have for stakeholders such as local construction companies, engineering firms, trade schools, and others.

A hiring strategy that focuses on expanding the pool of potential talent can help communities by creating more and better job opportunities for a broader, diverse pool of workers. It can also provide upward mobility for millions of workers—including veterans—at a crucial time for the US economy.

The military can take more steps to support veterans, particularly enlisted service members, as they navigate the transition to civilian work. Companies can open their hiring practices to consider veterans for a variety of roles, not just those that match perfectly with their military skills. Together, these actions can add billions in value to the US economy as veterans moving into civilian jobs maintain or increase their earning power to support their families and build their communities.

Scott Blackburn is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Washington, DC, office, where Kallman Parry is a senior analyst; Michael Kim and Hannah Oh are consultants in the Southern California office; and Charlie Lewis is a partner in the Stamford, Connecticut, office. All are veterans of the US armed forces.

This article was edited by Barbara Tierney, a senior editor in the New York office.

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15 Subtle Signs That Someone Is Probably Ex-military

Posted: May 10, 2024 | Last updated: May 10, 2024

Military service shapes more than just a resume. It leaves a lasting mark on a person’s character and behavior, even after the uniform comes off. Spotting someone with a military background goes beyond looking for camouflage. Swipe through for some subtle signs that might hint at their past service.

Ex-military individuals showcase remarkable discipline in various aspects of their lives. This discipline is ingrained through rigorous drilling and is evident in their adherence to routines, commitment to goals, and consistency in behavior.

Punctuality

Their punctuality reflects their respect for time and the value they place on being prepared and organized. It is deeply rooted in their military training, where being on time is critical to mission readiness and operational efficiency.

Physical Fitness

Maintaining a high level of physical fitness is a hallmark of military life, and many ex-military officers continue this practice subsequent to leaving the service. It’s common for this dedication to fitness to mean a commitment to health and well-being.

Attention to Detail

The military emphasizes the importance of attention to detail, as even minor oversights can have significant consequences in a combat or operational environment. This trait carries over into their civilian lives, where they exhibit meticulousness in their work and surroundings.

Military veterans are adept at working in teams, having experienced the importance of collaboration and cohesion during service. They understand the dynamics of teamwork, including both leadership and follower roles.

Their direct communication style stems from the need for clarity and efficiency in military operations. They are straightforward in their approach to tasks and interactions, preferring clear and concise communication.

Problem-Solving Skills

Armed forces training emphasizes quick thinking and effective problem-solving, skills honed through various exercises and real-world experiences. Ex-soldiers are adept at analyzing situations and finding practical solutions.

Adaptability

Military life requires individuals to adapt to changing environments and circumstances. Because of this, ex-members of the armed forces are typically resilient and can adjust to new situations with relative ease, drawing on their experiences of dealing with uncertainty and change.

The military instills a sense of resilience in its members, preparing them to face and overcome adversity. Ex-military men and women may demonstrate resilience in how they deal with problems and bounce back from setbacks.

Awareness of Surroundings

A heightened awareness of their surroundings is a skill developed through military drilling, where situational awareness can be a matter of life or death. Armed forces veterans are observant and alert.

Grooming Standards

The military strongly emphasizes grooming and personal appearance, and even former members may maintain high grooming standards. It may be keeping their hair and facial hair trimmed.

Preference for Routine

Routines and structured schedules characterize military life. Ex-officers may prefer routines even as civilians, as they provide a sense of familiarity and stability.

Use of Military Terminology

Having been immersed in a culture that uses specific language and terminology, ex-soldiers may continue using military terms in everyday conversations. This use of terminology can be a unique aspect of their communication style, reflecting their military background.

Resourcefulness

Military drilling encourages making the most of available resources. Because of that, after leaving, people are still good at improvisation and finding creative solutions to challenges, both in their professional and personal lives.

Respect for Authority

Having served in a hierarchical and structured environment, ex-military men and women tend to have a strong respect for authority figures. Their understanding of the importance of following orders and respecting the chain of command can translate into their civilian lives.

The post 15 Subtle Signs That Someone Is Probably Ex-military appeared first on Housely .

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Standards and Discipline

An in-depth look at where we once were and where we are now, by command sgt. maj. shelton r. williamson, 10th regional support group published in from one leader to another by the combat studies institute in 2013.

Nov. 10, 2017

(U.S. Army photo)

As an introduction to this short article, it is important to mention up front that compiling letters from senior leaders in the field who are out doing the nation's business (leading and taking care of young Soldiers and their families) is an extremely worthwhile endeavor. In addition to applauding this effort, it is important to note that speaking on many of these topics is extraordinarily necessary based on the strength and health of today's Army. It is fitting in many respects to discuss standards and discipline in our Army today. The intention here is to discuss this topic briefly from a chronological perspective specifically highlighting how standards and discipline have become a hallmark of our organization as an Army and how they have evolved over the years during the conduct of multiple wars and conflicts resulting in the very foundation that we stand upon both today and into tomorrow.

A little over 237 years ago, our Army was established as a result of a fierce start of the Revolutionary War between our fledging union (the United States as we know it) and the British Empire. Over the course of the Revolutionary War, led by the General of the Armies, George Washington, our Army fought in battles against a much larger and much more technically and tactically advanced Army. Our Army faced significant shortfalls and suffered many defeats at the hands of a seemingly superior force, at least in the initial stages of the war. As the revolution progressed, the Americans, as they became known, were significantly challenged by the lack of funding, equipment, personnel, formal training, and were literally considered to be "misfits" fighting against trained professionals.

Recognizing this, General Washington with the help of Benjamin Franklin, the French Ambassador at the time, made contact with Baron Fredrick von Steuben, a former Prussian officer who was well renowned for his superior organizational skills. Von Steuben was hired by Washington to serve as the first Inspector General of the Army, with the primary responsibility of structuring, organizing and training the Army. Von Steuben quickly went to work. He would write doctrine in the evening and train small formations of Soldiers by day on drill commands that were at the time closely associated with placing weapon systems into operation and fighting formations. As he trained more of these Soldiers across the Army on manual-of-arms and drill, Washington began to recognize a significant increase in discipline across the force and it showed in ensuing battles along what we now call the east coast, including the Battle of Valley Forge and many others. Von Steuben continued this effort by training organizational leaders who would then train their small units. In 1789, Von Steuben formalized this training when he developed what was called the "Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States," commonly referred to as the "Blue Book." This document became the mainstay of our Army and was not modified until the Civil War. Even though this manual, which later became the Manual for Drill and Ceremonies, was modified slightly during the Civil War, many of the tenants from the initial book remain to this day as a part of we now refer to as "Drill and Ceremony".

As the standards and discipline of units improved, so did the success of the American Army eventually leading to victory over the British. As our Army continued to mature and take on a larger role across the globe, standards and discipline would become the very core that would separate our Army from other fighting forces around the world; often viewed by other countries as the "Gold Standard" of an Army with respect to standards and discipline. The other armies often looked at how we marched in formation, how we were consistently in the same uniform, and how strong and tactically savvy our leaders were. All of these things spoke to our standards and discipline.

Fast-forward to the late 1960s and early 1970s where the noncommissioned officer became much more formally recognized with the creation of the Sergeant Major of the Army, the Noncommissioned Officer Education System, and an "All Volunteer Army" in 1973, all of these changes and more had a significant impact on the standards and discipline of our Army. No longer did NCOs feel like they were less prepared or educated, in fact, with new schooling they felt even more empowered. This resulted in improved standards and discipline across the force creating better productivity and thus stronger and healthier organizations across the Army.

Standards and discipline are often referenced together because they work in conjunction with one another in order for an organization to be successful, especially a military organization. General of the Armies, George Washington once said "Discipline is the soul of an Army, it makes small numbers formidable; procures success of the weak and esteem to all." Great organizations are ones that exude and enforce standards and discipline much better than average organizations. The term "standard" is defined by the American Standard Dictionary as a written definition, limit, or rule, approved and monitored for compliance by an authoritative agency or professional or recognized body as minimum acceptable benchmark. Standards may be classified as (1) government or statutory agency standards and specifications enforced by law, (2) proprietary standards developed by a firm or organization and placed in public domain to encourage their widespread use, (3) voluntary standards established by consultation and consensus and available for use by any person, organization, or industry. These terminologies spark some degree of interest as they represent just one perspective, none of which are incorrect. Once established, standards (like bureaucracies) can be very difficult to change or dislodge as them become habit. As this document develops, the intent is to draw a parallel to both of these terms and explain how vital they both are to our Army's evolution and to one another. Establishment of standards represents a very good starting point for any organization.

Discipline or "military discipline" as it is often referred, is defined as the state of order and obedience among personnel in a military organization and is characterized by the men's prompt and willing responsiveness to orders and understanding compliance to regulation. Often, non-military members view all uniformed military services as organizations that have a very strict set of rules where it takes an enormous amount of discipline to thrive. Much of the perception that the Army is a very disciplined organization is true; from the time a civilian makes the choice to become a Soldier until that new Soldier walks across the parade field as they graduate from Basic training, discipline is a focal point in their training.

Over the course of our 237 year history, it has been proven time and again that discipline is the difference between winning and losing, between average and exceptional. Once standards are established in an organization, it takes discipline to follow and enforce those standards both individually and collectively. Although this might seem straight forward and relatively easy to accomplish, it can be much more difficult to achieve in practice. Using a Brigade Combat Team as an example, it is easy to see how difficult this can be.

The Army Force Generation Cycle has a considerable impact on the life of a BCT as it comes out of the Reintegration/Reset Phase and transitions to the Train/Ready Phase. In the Train/Ready Phase, the unit begins individual training and eventually works up to collective training culminating with some type of battalion level training and most often than not, on to one of the three Combat Training Center rotations (JRTC, NTC, or JMRC). All of this training occurs over a period of time, some in a shorter time period than others. Over the course of this "train up", units that establish clear standards and have leaders that enforce those standards are normally the units that ultimately perform well at these CTC. The standards and discipline if established early in this cycle and enforced correctly result in units that are successful in their rotation and are extremely successful during combat operations. Units that fail to focus on standards and discipline often find themselves reacting to situations rather than preparing for their future mission. Wearing eye protection at all times during combat operations, carrying your rifle at the "Ready" vice slung over your back, a unit that is physically fit, a unit that has superior marksmanship skills, and a unit that conducts innovative, realistic and challenging training are all examples of disciplined units. Albeit these examples seem small and minute, they are undoubtedly the difference between an average organization and one that breeds strong disciplined leaders with high standards. In the book "About Face", by Colonel David Hackworth, he writes "The Army got rid of offending traditions, it did not replace these traditions with anything that fulfilled their basic and essential functions...to instill standards and discipline...if the Army expected its men to be effective on the battlefield, even to stay alive on the battlefield, discipline had to be the number one priority". An organization that has strong practices of standards and discipline are very successful.

Over the past 10 years, our Army has been involved in fighting and winning two wars against a very determined enemy and during the course of that time period, we as an institution have seen significant innovation across many fronts; recruitment and retention, centralized and semi-centralized promotions, functional training, professional military education, barracks/housing policies, physical readiness training, countless pieces of new equipment/technology and much more that have to a large degree, unintentionally degraded the overall standards and discipline of our Army while increasing the need for leadership that is focused on training. So what is it that we must do to re-acquaint ourselves with what made us so successful prior to our current fight? First, we cannot solely attribute the degradation in our level of standards and discipline to our fight abroad, something which we have done extremely well. The mid-level leaders we currently have in our formations are much stronger at training, preparing and performing in combat, but lack many of the garrison type skills that were present in our formations in the 1990s. One might pose the question, "well which attribute is more important to have?" The short answer is both, and the next question could be, "how can we show this generation of mid-level leaders that the ‘garrison-type functions' are important?" The short answer would be to show them with hands-on application.

Make them conduct frequent inspections of their Soldier's barracks/housing. Make them lay out their OCIE along with their Soldiers. Make them conduct an in-ranks inspection of their Soldier's appearance and uniform, both utility and dress. Make them march their Soldiers from one point to another on a regular basis and not just whenever there is some type of ceremony. Make them counsel their Soldiers monthly/quarterly. Make and show them how to prepare for a Command Inspection. Make and show them how to keep common areas cleaned without the help of contractors or others. Make and show them that competing for Soldier/NCO of the Month/Quarter/Year is a "good thing". Show them that their personal and professional conduct and behavior represents more than just themselves and is representative of the US Army. Lastly, help them develop the intestinal fortitude to make on-the-spot corrections when necessary as this is essential to the standards and discipline of an organization. All of these and many more need to happen while allowing subordinate leaders the maximum latitude to operate. This is accomplished by assigning them responsibility and holding them accountable without overly managing their work.

Establishing and enforcing standards and discipline is the key to an organization's overall success and should be treated in such a way that every member of the organization understands those standards and that they are committed individually and collectively to those standards. If you can find an organization which is highly successful in combat, chances are they are one that has high standards and have strong enforcement of discipline at every level. Aristotle once wrote "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit...so then if we repeatedly practice high standards and discipline, and it is the creation of those habits that enable us to defeat a determined and audacious enemy."

The first quarter of calendar year 2013 is devoted to standards and discipline of our Army. This focus was established by the chief of staff and sergeant major of the Army in recognition that our Army still has a long way to go in order to establish a renewed sense of pride and dedication to the standards and discipline of our fighting force and our profession. Leaders at every level should take this time to train and mentor young Soldiers and leaders on a united front to continue to emphasize that standards and discipline are the hallmark of our Army. Even though this initiative is directed in order to address the rising concerns of our Senior Leaders, we should all remain confident that our Nation possesses the most lethal and professional force that this world has ever known and that we have more than enough seasoned leaders within our ranks to coach, teach and mentor our aspiring professionals on the very ideals that have made us such a successful organization for over 237 years.

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Beth Linker Is Turning Good Posture on Its Head

A historian and sociologist of science re-examines the “posture panic” of the last century. You’ll want to sit down for this.

By Matt Richtel

For decades, the idea of standing properly upright carried considerable political and social baggage. Slouching was considered a sign of decay.

In the early 20th century, posture exams became mainstays in the military, the workplace and schools, thanks in part to the American Posture League, a group of physicians, educators and health officials that formed in 1914. In 1917, a study found that roughly 80 percent of Harvard’s freshman class had poor posture. Industrialists piled on with posture-enhancing chairs, products and gadgets.

But the actual science doesn’t support the conventional wisdom about proper posture, Beth Linker argues in her new book, “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America.” Dr. Linker, a historian and sociologist of science at the University of Pennsylvania, recently sat for an interview with The New York Times; the conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Nice to meet you.

Your posture looks pretty good. And it doesn’t matter — that’s the whole point of my book. It’s fake news.

Our obsession with great posture is fake news? I’m off the hook!

Concern for posture, as a matter of etiquette, has been around since the Enlightenment, if not earlier, but poor posture did not become a scientific and medical obsession until after the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” in 1859. He posited that humans evolved through natural selection, and that the first thing to develop was bipedalism; in other words, standing upright preceded brain development.

This idea was controversial because convention taught that higher intellect distinguished humans from nonhuman animals, and now it appeared that only a mere physical difference, located in the spine and feet, separated humankind from the apes.

In other words, bad posture was primitive.

Actually, quite the opposite. Bad posture was assumed to primarily affect “civilized” individuals — people who no longer engaged in physical labor but instead enjoyed the fruits of mechanized transportation, industrialization and leisure.

With the rise of eugenics in the early 20th century, certain scientists began to worry that slouching among “civilized” peoples could lead to degeneration, a backward slide in human progress. Posture correction became part of “race betterment” projects, especially for white Anglo-Saxon men but also for middle-class women and Black people who were trying to gain political rights and equity. Poor posture became stigmatized and defined as a disability. As I show in my book, people with postural “defects” were regularly discriminated against in the American workplace, educational settings and immigration offices. People with disabilities had no legal protection at the time.

Also, this was an era when physicians and public health officials began to focus more on disease prevention to control the spread of infectious contagions like tuberculosis. Good posture was understood to be an effective way to stave off deadly diseases, leading to campaigns that taught Americans how to stand up straight.

When tuberculosis rates declined in the 1940s — partly as a result of the discovery of antibiotics — scientists and physicians began to draw a causal link between poor posture and back pain. President John F. Kennedy, who had chronic back pain and his own posture guru, reinvigorated the President’s Council on Physical Fitness in order to promote uprightness and strength among the nation’s citizens.

For much of the 20th century, posture awareness campaigns were seen as an inexpensive way to improve national health, especially compared to costlier health investments such as improvements in housing, infrastructure and nationalized health insurance coverage. Posture crusaders also tended to hold individuals accountable for their own failing health, rather than looking to structural problems. For example, they would blame a back pain sufferer for having caused the problem, for failing to sit and stand properly, for being a slouch.

And you contend that was unfair.

There was really no proof of causality, then or now.

But the belief gained traction because it legitimized age-old assumptions about the importance of upright posture to human ability. Posture assessments became a quick and efficient way to size up another person’s character, intelligence and health — all in one fairly simple exam.

I’m not a posture denier. I think posture therapy can be a powerful tool when used to alleviate existing back pain. I myself frequent a physical therapist for my own back pain, and I use standing desks, ergonomic chairs and yoga to contribute to my sense of well-being. But these devices and remedies offer much more than a fixed notion of good posture.

What I question is how much posture correction can do for a healthy, pain-free person in terms of preventing future ills and the inevitability of aging. The posture panic created over 100 years ago, and the simplistic message behind it, was good for self-discipline and for business. In a certain respect, manufacturers of ergonomic chairs, back braces, bras and shoes, even today, want to keep the panic alive.

Do we even have a good definition of what is good or bad posture? We don’t. No one can agree on what the standards are. Also, the human body is incredibly dynamic, and each of our anatomies are, to some extent, distinct. To say that there’s, like, some kind of static norm is not in keeping with the reality.

It’s not just standing as erect as possible with your chin tucked back?

Plumb-line verticality is what it’s called; that’s one way to assess posture. You have certain anatomical markers in line with each other. But we’re never static. How long can you really hold a posture that is “good”?

Until we get off this Zoom call and I can relax.

The scientific study of the effectiveness of posture correction has been hindered by a scandal that was covered by The New York Times Magazine in the 1990s. The article reported that for several decades until the 1970s, Ivy League schools took nude pictures of undergraduates to check their posture, and that these pictures still existed in the Smithsonian Archives. My own research has shown that posture photography happened not just at elite universities but at colleges, hospitals and prisons across the country. The practice of taking nude posture pictures largely came to an end in the early 1970s because of concerns about propriety and personal privacy.

After the Times exposé, entire archival holdings containing a century’s worth of posture science data were burned or shredded.

The scandal did not question the presumed benefits of posture correction; rather, it took issue with the conventions of measuring posture. So the health belief that posture is an indicator of future health — that it can be a predictor of back pain and neck pain — remained in place. Not until recently have certain studies shown that you can adopt all kinds of posture, even the occasional slouching, and be just fine.

In sum, you argue that there’s no connection between a person’s posture and morality, and that there may be no connection to long-term health.

In some ways, it’s the phrenology of the 20th century. We use posture to judge character, intelligence and physical ability. Like, if you’re a slouch, that also means that you’re somehow lazy.

It’s shallow and ableist to estimate what another person can or cannot do based on their posture. In terms of long-term health, I think the jury is still out on that.

Matt Richtel is a health and science reporter for The Times, based in Boulder, Colo. More about Matt Richtel

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Russia-Ukraine war: UK to expel Russian defence attache, who it claims is ‘undeclared military intelligence officer’ – as it happened

Several Russian diplomatic premises that UK believes have been used by Russian intelligence also closed. This live blog is closed

• 3d ago Closing summary
• 3d ago Russian deputy defence minister kept in pre-trial detention over bribery charges
• 3d ago UK to expel Russian defence attache, who it claims is 'undeclared military intelligence officer'
• 3d ago Afternoon summary
• 3d ago Russia claims to have captured two villages in Ukraine
• 3d ago Kremlin plays down Ukraine claim of foiled plot to kill Zelenskiy
• 3d ago Overnight Russian attack could lead to power cuts, Ukraine's grid operator says
• 3d ago Russia attacks gas storage facility in Ukraine's Lviv region, governor says

Kremlin plays down Ukraine claim of foiled plot to kill Zelenskiy

The Kremlin said it had no comment on Ukrainian assertions that Kyiv caught Russian agents plotting the assassination of president Volodymyr Zelenskiy , but said that it was hardly likely to be accurate information.

Ukraine’s state security service said on Tuesday it caught two agents for Russia who planned to kill Zelenskiy and other top officials as “a gift” for Russian president Vladimir Putin as he was sworn in for a new term.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no comment on the assertion but added that was unlikely to be accurate information.

Closing summary

The European Union has reached a deal to seize profits from Russia’s frozen assets to fund weapons and aid for Ukraine , overcoming a hitch about a tax windfall for Belgium. EU senior diplomats meeting on Wednesday agreed a compromise on using the €4.4bn windfall profits to aid Ukraine, smoothing over a dispute about taxation and management costs in Belgium, the country where most of the frozen assets are held.

Ukraine said it was producing the same number of deep strike drones as Russia, claiming to have reached parity on a key type of weapon that Moscow has used for long-range attacks for much of its invasion. Unable to rapidly match Russia’s vast arsenal of cruise and ballistic missiles, Kyiv has focused on developing and producing long-range drones so it can hit back at Russia , which has bombed Ukraine throughout the 26-month-old invasion, Reuters reported.

Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz has stressed Berlin’s support for a Ukraine peace summit to be held in Switzerland in mid-June during a phone call with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a government spokesperson in Berlin said on Wednesday. “The chancellor confirmed his participation and reiterated that Germany actively supported the meeting. They agreed to work towards the broadest possible global participation,” Reuters reports a statement from the spokesperson said.

An “undeclared” Russian military intelligence officer will be expelled from the UK, the home secretary has said, as he also announced the closure of several Russian diplomatic premises. James Cleverly, whose role is the equivalent on an interior minister, told lawmakers in London: “Today in conjunction with the foreign secretary, I am announcing a package of measures to make clear to Russia that we will not tolerate such apparent escalations.”

Poland was targeted by a hacking attack from a Russia-linked group this week, the state-run National Research Institute (NASK) said on Wednesday. “Malware targeting Polish government institutions was distributed this week by the APT28 group, associated with Russia’s intelligence services,” Reuters reports NASK said in a statement.

Tass reports that a Moscow court has kept deputy minister of defence Timur Ivanov in pre-trial detention after he was charged with receiving an exceptionally large bribe. It reports that a judge said “The court decided to leave Ivanov’s appeal without satisfaction, and the decision of the first instance – without change” Ivanov had appealed against his detention. He was arrested on 24 April. The case also involves businessmen Sergei Borodin and Alexander Fomin who are accused by authorities of making a large bribe.

Ukraine says it has foiled a Russian plot to assassinate its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy , and other senior officials, using a network of agents who were recruited by Vladimir Putin’s domestic spy agency. The SBU state security service in Kyiv said the alleged agents had been instructed to find someone close to the presidential guard. The person would take Zelenskiy prisoner – in his office or when he left the building – and then kill him, the SBU said.

The Kremlin said it had no comment on Ukrainian assertions that Kyiv caught Russian agents plotting the assassination of president Volodymyr Zelenskiy , but said that it was hardly likely to be accurate information. Ukraine’s state security service said on Tuesday it caught two agents for Russia who planned to kill Zelenskiy and other top officials as “a gift” for Russian president Vladimir Putin as he was sworn in for a new term.

Russian forces have taken over the village of Kyslivka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and the village of Novokalynove in the Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said. It said in a statement that Russian forces hit military and energy facilities in Ukraine with drones and missiles in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities.

Ukraine’s parliament has passed a bill allowing mobilisation of some categories of convicts, lawmakers said. “Those convicted of premeditated murder, rape, sexual violence, and crimes against the national security will not be mobilised,” Oleksiy Honcharenko, one of the parliamentarians, said on Telegram.

Russia said that sending Nato troops into Ukraine would potentially be extremely dangerous, and Moscow was closely watching a Ukrainian petition that called for such an intervention. The petition, posted on the Ukrainian president’s website, says Ukraine should ask the United States, Britain and other countries to send troops to help it repel Russia’s invasion, Reuters reported.

Russia said on Wednesday that the conflict in Ukraine would be over in just two weeks if the West halted military supplies to Kyiv, echoing remarks by the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. Borrell said earlier this month that Ukraine’s existence depended on the West and that the war would be finished in a couple of weeks if the supply of Western weaponry ended, Reuters reported. Borrell said that he did not want the war to end like that.

Russian missiles and drones struck nearly a dozen Ukrainian critical infrastructure facilities in a major airstrike early on Wednesday, causing serious damage at three Soviet-era thermal power plants, Kyiv officials said. The air force said it shot down 39 of 55 missiles and 20 out of 21 attack drones used in the attack, which piles more pressure on Ukraine’s beleaguered energy system more than two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Reuters reported.

Overnight Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure caused a deficit in grid system which could prompt power cuts in the evening for consumers around the country, Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergo said on Wednesday. Hydropower and thermal power plants were damaged in the attack, Ukrenergo said in a statement via the Telegram messaging app.

British allegations of Russian involvement in an arson attack in Britain are absurd and part of an information war against Moscow, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. Zakharova said Russia considered such allegations provocative and never carried out sabotage attacks against civilian targets, Reuters reported. She was referring to a case in which Britain last month charged a man over alleged hostile state activity intended to benefit Russia, including by allegedly recruiting others for an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked commercial property in London.

The Kremlin also said that it valued its relations with North Korea, when asked about a report that Russia has been shipping refined petroleum to North Korea at levels that appear to breach a cap set by the United Nations Security Council. “We value our bilateral relations with North Korea and intend to further develop them in all possible areas,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. North Korea, he said, was “our good and very promising partner.”

China’s foreign ministry congratulated Vladimir Putin on his inauguration as president of Russia, according to a spokesperson. “China congratulates president Putin on his inauguration,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, noting president Xi Jinping had already sent a congratulatory message to Putin on his re-election.

Russia warned France on Wednesday that if president Emmanuel Macron sent troops to Ukraine then they would be seen as legitimate targets by the Russian military. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia was already seeing growing numbers of French nationals among those killed in the Ukraine war.

India’s federal police said four people linked to a network of human traffickers have been arrested, accused of luring young men to Russia with the promise of lucrative jobs or university admissions only to force them to fight in the war in Ukraine . About 35 Indian men were duped in this manner, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in March, Reuters reported.

That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Ukraine live blog for today. Thanks for following along – see you tomorrow.

The European Union has reached a deal to seize profits from Russia’s frozen assets to fund weapons and aid for Ukraine , overcoming a hitch about a tax windfall for Belgium.

EU senior diplomats meeting on Wednesday agreed a compromise on using the €4.4bn windfall profits to aid Ukraine, smoothing over a dispute about taxation and management costs in Belgium, the country where most of the frozen assets are held.

Euroclear, a clearing house in Brussels, holds €191bn of the €260bn of Russian Central Bank assets that were immobilised by western governments in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In February the clearing house reported €4.4bn interest on the Russian funds and forecast that the Belgium government would reap in €1,085bn in taxes.

The EU - wary of the legal ramifications of seizing the Russian assets - decided it could confiscate the profits, after concluding Moscow had no legal right to these funds. But finding a deal has been complicated by divisions about how to spend the money, Euroclear’s management fees and Belgium’s 25% tax on corporate profits.

Belgium has now said it is “prepared to consider” a voluntary plan to transfer the collected taxes to Ukraine from 2025, according to diplomatic sources. The Belgian climbdown was first reported by Politico.

The Belgian state was already contributing aid to buy weapons for Ukraine, but EU diplomats argued the Russian windfall should be additional not in place of Belgium’s regular Ukraine aid. Ahead of the compromise, one EU diplomat described the profits as “a windfall tax for Belgium” and said counting it towards Belgium’s Ukraine aid should not be allowed: “it is a little unfair because nobody else has Russian money to pay for their aid for Ukraine.”

Meeting on Wednesday, the diplomats whittled down Euroclear’s management fee to 0.3%, down from the original 3% proposed.

EU member states have also reached a compromise to spend 90% of the windfall profits on weapons for Ukraine and the remaining 10% on reconstruction, a split designed to assuage countries including Ireland, Austria and Hungary that cannot or do not wish to fund arms.

Ukraine said it was producing the same number of deep strike drones as Russia, claiming to have reached parity on a key type of weapon that Moscow has used for long-range attacks for much of its invasion.

Unable to rapidly match Russia’s vast arsenal of cruise and ballistic missiles, Kyiv has focused on developing and producing long-range drones so it can hit back at Russia , which has bombed Ukraine throughout the 26-month-old invasion, Reuters reported.

“In 2024, Ukraine caught up with Russia in terms of the production number of kamikaze drones similar to the Shahed-131 and Shahed-136,” Herman Smetanin, head of Ukraine’s state arms manufacturer, told the defence ministry’s media outlet, ArmyInform.

Shahed drones, which Kyiv says were initially procured from Iran before some production was localised in Russia’s Tatarstan region, have become a staple of Russian air strikes since they were first used against Ukraine in the autumn of 2022.

The drones, which are packed with explosives and detonate on impact, are nicknamed “mopeds” by Ukrainians due to the whirring sound of their engines that can be heard flying in the sky.

Smetanin said his comment about production numbers applied to other types of attack drone as well. He gave no figures.

Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz has stressed Berlin’s support for a Ukraine peace summit to be held in Switzerland in mid-June during a phone call with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy , a government spokesperson in Berlin said on Wednesday.

“The chancellor confirmed his participation and reiterated that Germany actively supported the meeting. They agreed to work towards the broadest possible global participation,” Reuters reports a statement from the spokesperson said.

The talks are due to be held from 15-16 June near the Swiss city of Lucerne.

Poland was targeted by a hacking attack from a Russia-linked group this week, the state-run National Research Institute (NASK) said on Wednesday.

“Malware targeting Polish government institutions was distributed this week by the APT28 group, associated with Russia’s intelligence services,” Reuters reports NASK said in a statement.

“Technical indicators and similarities to past attacks allowed the identification of the APT28 group.”

Russian deputy defence minister kept in pre-trial detention over bribery charges

Tass reports that a Moscow court has kept deputy minister of defence Timur Ivanov in pre0-trial detention after he was charged with receiving an exceptionally large bribe.

It reports that a judge said “The court decided to leave Ivanov’s appeal without satisfaction, and the decision of the first instance – without change”

Ivanov had appealed against his detention. He was arrested on 24 April. The case also involves businessmen Sergei Borodin and Alexander Fomin who are accused by authorities of making a large bribe.

Tass writes:

The deputy minister denied involvement in receiving a bribe and declared his readiness to give detailed testimony to prove his innocence. The accounts and assets of all defendants in the case were frozen as part of interim measures.

Reuters has a quick snap that Estonia is to summon Russia ’s chargé d’affaires over claims that Russia has been jamming GPS signals over the Baltic sea, which has been affecting thousands of commercial flights .

UK to expel Russian defence attache, who it claims is 'undeclared military intelligence officer'

An “undeclared” Russian military intelligence officer will be expelled from the UK, the home secretary has said, as he also announced the closure of several Russian diplomatic premises.

James Cleverly, whose role is the equivalent on an interior minister, told lawmakers in London: “Today in conjunction with the foreign secretary, I am announcing a package of measures to make clear to Russia that we will not tolerate such apparent escalations.”

PA Media reports he continued:

I can tell the House that we will expel the Russian defence attache, who is an undeclared military intelligence officer. We will remove diplomatic premises status from several Russian-owned properties in the UK, including Seacox Heath house, a Russian-owned property in Sussex, and the trade and defence section in Highgate, which we believe have been used for intelligence purposes. We are imposing new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas, including capping the length of time Russian diplomats can spend in the UK.

Cleverly said the action followed a pattern of malign activity from Russia across Britain and Europe .

Reuters reports that Russia’s foreign ministry has said it will respond appropriately.

Afternoon summary

Ukraine’s parliament has passed a bill allowing mobilisation of some categories of convicts, lawmakers said.

“Those convicted of premeditated murder, rape, sexual violence, and crimes against the national security will not be mobilised,” Oleksiy Honcharenko, one of the parliamentarians, said on Telegram.

Russia said on Wednesday that the conflict in Ukraine would be over in just two weeks if the West halted military supplies to Kyiv, echoing remarks by the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.

Borrell said earlier this month that Ukraine’s existence depended on the West and that the war would be finished in a couple of weeks if the supply of Western weaponry ended, Reuters reported. Borrell said that he did not want the war to end like that.

Asked about how to de-escalate the confrontation between Russia and the West, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the West had raised the rhetoric about Russia.

“And what is needed for de-escalation, Borrell said: if you stop supplying Kyiv with weapons, everything will be over in 2 weeks. And here is the de-escalation formula,” she said.

Russia claims to have captured two villages in Ukraine

Russian forces have taken over the village of Kyslivka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and the village of Novokalynove in the Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said.

It said in a statement that Russian forces hit military and energy facilities in Ukraine with drones and missiles in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities.

Russia said that sending Nato troops into Ukraine would potentially be extremely dangerous, and Moscow was closely watching a Ukrainian petition that called for such an intervention.

The petition, posted on the Ukrainian president’s website, says Ukraine should ask the United States, Britain and other countries to send troops to help it repel Russia’s invasion, Reuters reported.

“The Kyiv regime is quite unpredictable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about it at his daily briefing.

“We have repeatedly said that direct intervention on the ground in this conflict by the military of Nato countries potentially carries enormous danger, so we consider this an extremely challenging provocation, nothing less, and, of course, we are watching this very carefully.”

It was unclear if the petition would gather the required number of votes - 25,000 - to require president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to respond by either approving or rejecting it. As of Wednesday morning it had attracted 1,594 votes.

British allegations of Russian involvement in an arson attack in Britain are absurd and part of an information war against Moscow, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Zakharova said Russia considered such allegations provocative and never carried out sabotage attacks against civilian targets, Reuters reported.

She was referring to a case in which Britain last month charged a man over alleged hostile state activity intended to benefit Russia, including by allegedly recruiting others for an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked commercial property in London.

Foreign secretary David Cameron has voiced deep concern about the allegations, and his ministry last month summoned Russia’s ambassador to London to express its concern about “Russian orchestrated malign activity on UK soil”.

Zakharova told reporters at her weekly briefing: “We consider the appearance of such provocative materials as the latest salvo in an information war that Downing Street has unleashed against our country.”

“These attempts are pathetic... The accusations made are not only absurd, but also not supported by any facts,” she said, urging Britain to halt its “anti-Russian hysteria”.

• Ukraine war live
• Vladimir Putin
• Volodymyr Zelenskiy

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