The Inheritance

America's Military After Two Decades of War

Mara E. Karlin

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English

Brookings Institution
14 December 2021

History; Political structure & processes; Public administration; International relations; Theory of warfare & military science

Exploring how the U.S. military can move beyond Iraq and Afghanistan Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. military has been fighting incessantly in conflicts around the globe, often with inconclusive results. The legacies of these conflicts have serious implications for how the United States will wage war in the future. Yet there is a stunning lack of introspection about these conflicts. Never in modern U.S. history has the military been at war for so long. And never in U.S. history have such long wars demanded so much of so few. The legacy of wars without end include a military that feels the painful effects of war but often feels alone. The public is less connected to the military now than at any point in modern U.S. history. The national security apparatus seeks to pivot away from these engagements and to move on to the next threatsnotably those emanating from China and Russia. Many young Americans question whether it even makes sense to invest in the military. At best, there are ad hoc, unstructured debates about Iraq or Afghanistan. Simply put, there has been no serious, organized stock-taking by the public, politicians, opinion leaders, or the military itself of this inheritance. Despite being at war for the longest continuous period in its history, the military is woefully unprepared for future wars. But the United States cannot simply hit the reset button. This book explores this inheritance by examining how nearly two decades of war have influenced civil-military relations, how the military goes to war, how the military wages war, who leads the military and who serves in it, how the military thinks about war, and above all, the enduring impact of these wars on those who waged them. If the U.S. military seeks to win in the future, it must acknowledge and reconcile with the inheritance of its long and inconclusive wars. This book seeks to help them do so.

By: Mara E. Karlin
Imprint: Brookings Institution
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 223mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780815738459
ISBN 10: 0815738455
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 14 December 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Contents: Acknowledgments Preface 1. Why Should We Care: Legacy, Myth, and Memory 2. The Military’s Sense of Itself: The Crisis of Confidence 3. The Military’s Relationship to Society: The Crisis of Caring 4. The Military’s Relationship with Its Overseers: The Crisis of Meaningful Civilian Control 5. How the Military Goes to War 6. How the Military Wages War 7. Who Serves in the Military 8. Who Leads the Military 9. The Military’s Preparedness for Future Conflicts 10. Now What? Brief Chronology of the Post-9/11 Wars Notes Index

Mara E. Karlin was director of Strategic Studies and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Karlin previously served in national security roles for five U.S. secretaries of defense. She is the author of Building Militaries in Fragile States: Challenges for the United States.

Reviews for The Inheritance: America's Military After Two Decades of War

In between her stints of service in the Pentagon, first under U.S. President Barack Obama and now under President Joe Biden, Karlin explored what went wrong with the two big U.S. wars of this century, in Afghanistan and Iraq. She considered, in turn, how the military went to war, how it waged war, who served in the ranks, and who led, before addressing what the prosecution of these wars meant for future conflicts. To this end, she interviewed around 100 civilian and military figures. Quotes from these interviews enliven her book and help bring home the importance of personalities, leadership, the emotions that can be aroused by apparently dry debates about civil-military relations, and the dangers of too great a separation between the armed forces and the society they serve. Americans routinely express gratitude for soldiers without really understanding what their service entails or the toll of long tours in hostile environments. She urges continued reflection on mistakes as well as achievements, better dialogue between the civilian and military leadership, and holding them both to proper account.