Читать книгу The Warrior's Manifesto. Ideals for Those Who Protect and Defend онлайн

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Fighting for country does not define a warrior. If fighting for country defined the warrior, Japanese soldiers of the Axis who conquered the Chinese and hurled infants in the air to catch them on bayonets would be warriors. The forty-seven ronin of Ako would not be. Fighting for country does not define the warrior.

Fighting for deity does not define a warrior. If fighting for a god defined the warrior, soldiers of the Islamic State, who profess to fight for God as they cleave the heads of “unbelievers” in public spectacles while they kneel bound and unable to fight, would be warriors. Colonel Ethan Allen would not be. Fighting for deity does not define the warrior.

Is it war, then, that makes the warrior?

War has always been a complex affair spanning organization, logistics, and strategy. Staff tends camp, cooks prepare food, engineers design machinery, scribes draft orders. The cook, the engineer, and the administrator may be brave men. Certainly, they are part of the war effort. But as cooks, engineers, and administrators, they are no warriors (though they may be cooks, engineers, administrators, and warriors).