Martin Van Creveld says in his book The Transformation of War
[*1], “A ghost is stalking the corridors of general staffs and defense departments all over the ‘developed’ world-the fear of military impotence, even irrelevance.” This must be expressed in the fear of armed forces that are unable to achieve coherent and effective command control, while the characteristics of war and the roles and missions of armed forces are transforming.
The military used to be a combatant, command-led entity aimed at winning against clearly judged enemies until the end of Cold War. However, at present, the military is becoming an organization which is in readiness for uncertain threats, and at the same time they have to have very efficient skills to deal with a wide range of tasks including peace-building and the reconstruction of democracy. Yet, our general posture toward war is maintained, since war is a sometimes necessary act of force to compel our enemy to do our will. It does not have the change that the military still battle group. Under such ‘Hybrid’ circumstances, we are searching for the answers or solutions of what should remain, what should change, and also the most suitable way of being professional.
The U.S. Army as well as Germany, UK and etc. has been displayed the most sensitivity toward implementing necessary changes, and was among the first to start dealing with the issue of military professionalism. This is because that after they seized prompt victories in both of the Gulf War (1991) and the Iraq War (2003-2011), they had to adapt the situation of a huge loss and collapse of stabilization in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Furthermore, for now, the U.S. Army is compelled to deal with new situation of post-war scenarios countering terrorism. In recent years, the U.S. Forces have been working on reviewing military professionalism, and discussions about this topic are proactively undertaken by experts inside and outside the military.
Hence, we aim to study and analyze how the issues affecting the U.S. impact upon our own military professionalism for the future of the SDF and NDA throughout this project. The issues examined in relation to the U.S. Forces are as follows: ② Background of re-examining military professionalism. ③ Lessons learned from mistakes in the past. ④ Analysis of changes and influences of typical skills in military, organization, civil-military relations, professional ethics, and field expertise. ⑤ The ideal type of human resources desired for the future of the military. The SDF and the U.S. military, of course, have much in common but also discrepancies. The content of Professional Military Education from military academies to strategic colleges supported by the SDF and the U.S. Forces are, of course, expected to generate differences between them.
*1 Martin Van Creveld, The Transformation of War
, The Free Press, 1991.