The Importance Of Military Culture And Cultures

“conflict occurring between individuals or social groups that separated by cultural boundaries can be considered “cross-cultural conflict.” But individuals, even in the same society, are potentially members of many different groups, organized in different ways by different criteria” (Avruvh, 1998, p.6).

Knowing a country 's culture is a powerful tool for military leaders as well as soldiers to have. With this knowledge, leaders can make decisions much easier, with less risk of drawback or damage to relations with the host country.

The Department of the Army (2014) defines culture as a “Web of meaning shared by members of a particular society or group within a society” (p. 3-1). In a previous version of Field Manual (FM) 3-24 the Department of the Army (2006) defines culture as “A system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another” (p. 3-6). Culture can mean many different things to many different people and societies. To put one definition on it will not work. Over the next couple of pages an attempt will be made to explain culture further as well as consider the culture of Mexico by looking at the Mexican physical geography, military conflict history and their impact on the

Due to the unique nature of United States military culture, a vast majority of active duty personnel and the veteran population are accustomed to

Thesis: Understanding the ideology of a nation’s way of life is fundamental to successful military operations. Ireland has endured fighting, famine, and struggle for centuries, making the people of Ireland both tough and rugged. Era after era of invasions of Ireland created a culture that is resilient, comprehends survival, and fully understands guerrilla warfare.

In Nato Thompson’s novel, Culture as Weapon, Thompson informs his readers about the many actions, and ideas that can help classify culture in our world today. Culture can be identified in a multitude of ways because culture is the values and beliefs that help guide us into shaping who we are as humans. For example, things such as “movies, online programming, advertisements, sports, retail outlets, music, art museums, and social networking” ( Thompson, vii) all have a influence on the decisions that we make, therefore they are all aspects of our culture. Due to the fact that there are many ways that we are capable of describing culture, this also means that there is a magnitude of things that can guide or even manipulate our values and beliefs

Leadership Philosophy As leaders we must adapt and conform to an ever changing world and organization. I believe leaders must have several leadership traits in order to influence and incite and lead Soldiers to accomplish our mission. Those attributes and competencies need to be instilled and developed from the TOP DOWN! I want leaders to have Character, Presence, Intellect, and be able to Lead and Develop Soldiers so as an organization we can achieve final results.

In this culture, a person’s self-concept is formed from their social connections and the person is guided by the social norms of their society. This cultural orientation influenced how the two militaries fought in the

Culture of a nation is manifested and influenced by a number of factors. National psyche and traits being the most pronounced ones. Military culture , to a certain extent , is in harmony with the national culture, however, it has its own impulses and dynamics. It incorporates obedience that curtails individual freedom or at times it may be at tangent with the socio-cultural values of a society ; Military culture of British – Indian Army ,as inherited by us is a case in point here. Philosophy of our present military outlets draws strength from history , organisational infrastructure , uniform , traditions social moorings and a host of other factors which , despite numerous changes , is still undergoing the process of evolution.

Diversity is one characteristic that makes the United States Air Force (USAF) the most powerful and unique Air Force in the world. Considering this fact makes me understand that the concept of Social Sensitivity is an essential factor in becoming a successful leader. The knowledge coupled with the ability to understand and value the differences in my airmen’s culture, views and beliefs define the reason this concept it’s important. The flight I was entrusted by to lead is composed of a huge variety of diverse people. At this moment I have airmen assigned that are originally from the island of Maui, Hawaii, others from the state of Louisiana, Kansas, Michigan and New York. Also, I am required to manage a German national civilian workforce which operates side by side on a daily basis with the rest of my airmen. Let alone the fact that all my operations are conducted in a multinational, multicultural domain outside the USAF installation. With that in mind, my inability to acknowledge the characteristics, fuse the personalities, strengths, and beliefs of my people would have devastating consequences when it comes to the mission success.

The great master of strategy, Carl von Clausewitz, perceived change and military adaptation to new tactics and technologies as a simple matter. He wrote, “if, in warfare, a certain means turns out to be highly effective, it will be used again; it will be copied by others and become fashionable; and so, backed by experience, it passes into general use and is included in theory.” According to Clausewitz, if a new technology works, militaries will accept it and that technology will become a part of the organization. In contrast to Clausewitz, English strategist B. H. Liddell Hart noted that, “the only thing harder than getting a new idea into the military mind is to get an old one out.” Conventional wisdom tends to agree with Liddell Hart

Germany’s distinguishable military culture is marked by the imperative to succeed and extremism. Their position in Belgium and The Great War began with the aristocracy being threatened, and ended with Germany overestimating their strategy. Reliance on tactic and luck rather than strategy proves to be the country’s Achilles heel once they encounter Belgium resistance. The strong characteristics of Germany’s style bleed through their actions across Belgium and shaped how countries perceived Germany during and after The Great War.

Creating a culturally competent army is not about adding one more technical unit called “human terrain system” to deal with a culture. Culture is not reducible to a governmental unit in the same way as logistics, mechanics, weaponry, prisons, and so forth. Nevertheless, this is how the army and its HTS program look at a culture. Rather a culturally competent military implies a new type of soldier who comprehends that power and legitimacy are not only reliant on weapons. Those militaries as well would requisite to realize that Iraq is not neatly separated into good people, and bad people and that cultural thoughtfulness is more than a public relations exercise. Passing this to the army will encompass much more than the random roving anthropologist reporting to a the military

Culture includes the habits, likes, and dislikes, habits, customs and rituals learned from the individual’s family (Andrew & Boyle, 2011). There a variety of factors that might influence the recognition of other cultures. Stereotyping occurs when one assumes that all members of a certain culture or ethnic group share similar attributes or behaviours (Beagan, Fredericks & Goldberg, 2012; Wilson & Neville,

Military Discipline is a state of order and obedience existing within a command. Self discipline in the military is where soldiers do the 4 rights without being told, even in the absence of the commander. Discipline is created within a unit by instilling a sense of confidence and responsibility in each individual. To strengthen discipline, senior leaders need to give praise to their subordinates, either individually or as a whole, for tasks done well. By doing this, it will accomplish every commanders goal of having a unit that functions well and builds a bond which binds together the team. Everything in life requires some sort of discipline. Whether it is hitting a baseball, learning to sew , playing a musical instrument, making good