Why Percentages Matter -- And Why We Should Ignore Them

Abstract

This post addresses the common use of the phrase uttered at thousands of military events every year, from purple heart ceremonies, to redeployment welcome-home events, to promotions and retirements: "you are part of the one percent of Americans who choose to serve" in the military, and argues that this self-reverence -- when proclaimed by uniformed leaders back to their own troops, undermines our constitutional servitude to the American public and risks fracturing a carefully-structured balance in our civil-military relations. This phrase has become a part of our own internal "strategic branding" that segregates and elevates us above and apart from our fellow citizens. Doing so, repeatedly over the course of the last fourteen years of continuous combat operations, sends an detrimental signal to our troops (and to the public) about our sense of relative worth to our society, the oaths that we take, and the evolving meaning of sacrifice and service.

Keywords: strategic communication, all-volunteer force, civil-military relations