Culture Shock in the Military - Report Example

Culture Shock in the Military Culture Shock in the Military America is currently conducting war on terror at Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Even though all these countries have Islamic culture, it is difficult to argue that these cultures are one and the same in all the respects. In other words, Islamic culture in Pakistan is entirely different from that of Iraq. Moreover, American culture is entirely different from that of Islamic countries. In short, in Iraq and Afghanistan, American soldiers are forced to interact with a civilian culture which is quite unfamiliar to them. Islamic fundamentalist are more in Pakistan and Afghanistan compared to that in Iraq. It should be noted that majority of the population in these countries are not accepting America’s claims that these regions are fertile soils for terrorists. They are of the view that America is trying to baptize or destroy Islamic culture in the name of war on terror. They see Israel’s invisible hands in every operation in these regions by America. According to James B Higgins (A military man who participated in Iraq war) “several Iraqis believe that the American military were there on behalf of Israel as "foot soldiers of Zion" (Higgins, 2006). In short, the current war on terror is termed as a cultural conflict rather than a political conflict by many of the Muslim people. Because of such perceptions, it is extremely difficult for the American military to convince Iraqis or Afghanis that they are fighting against terrorism rather fighting against Islam. This paper analyses various dimensions of the cultural shock in American military and its consequences. Culture Shock in American Military “Soldiers who openly express to their peers hostility toward the locals are admired and touted as the "real deal." Particularly among less-trained soldiers who have few noncombat skills to take pride in, the entire sense of selfworth comes from being a steely-eyed killer. This is a hard image to back up in an area of operations that offers virtually no firefights” (Wilson, 2011, p.32). At the time of writing this paper, newspaper reports show that an American soldier killed more than sixteen innocent Afghanis. The above incident clearly suggests that many of the American soldiers do not have proper awareness about the battle they are engaged in. Many of them have the illusion that even innocent Afghan and Iraqi people are keeping vengeance towards American soldiers and they are waiting for the opportunity to attack American soldiers. Because of the above perception, some crazy American soldiers have the perception that all Muslims have elements of terrorism and therefore they should be killed. “The impact of culture on perceptions of self and the social world, perceived courses of action, even visceral emotional reactions, is far greater than most people realize. Culture provides the cognitive glue—the software—that enables us to function”(Wilson, 2011, p.33). Military life is not all about killing of enemies. In fact, killing of enemies is only the secondary duty of the soldiers. One of the major duties of the military personnel is to establish sound relationships with the community in which the military operates. War is the last resort of solving a problem. There is no point in conducting wars if the military objectives were met peacefully. For example, America could have avoided many attacks on civilian areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan if the people in those localities were able to handover the terrorists hiding in those places. We went into Operation Iraqi Freedom thinking of the Iraqis primarily as our enemies. There was little thought given to what would quickly become our primary mission of nation-building and working with the people. It was extremely difficult to make the transition from full scale combat to trying to assist the people who only last week were shooting at you (Higgins, 2006). The above confession from a soldier who took part in Iraq war clearly underlines the general attitude of American soldiers towards other people. Even though the primary objective of America’s military intervention in Iraq was to establish peace and harmony, many of the American soldiers thought that they were there to kill enemies or terrorists. Many of them though that they have a license to kill any Iraqi who found to be protesting against America. These perceptions resulted in many unfortunate incidents in Iraq from the hands of American soldiers. “Military research often discusses combat and operational stress and its effect on soldiers but does not address unique culturally induced stressors created by the modern militarys interaction with indigenous populations”(Azari et al., 2010, p.585). It should be noted that majority of the Muslims have the tendency to bring Allah in all their conversations. "Inshallah,"which means "God willing; is a common phrase used by Muslims in their communications. Americans do not like such terms in communications. They often identify such phrases as the cultural symbols or religious fatalism. American soldiers are more concerned with their mission and they do not like words like this. They often consider such words as the deliberate attempt by Muslims to ridicule American culture which often keeps God a particular distance from their professional or social life. Muslims on the other hand like to see God’s presence in their personal, social as wells as professional life. Different countries may have different cultures and customs because of the differences in beliefs. Even though Islam, Jewism and Christianity have a common father in Abraham, these religions have entirely different beliefs and customs. The one and only similarity between these religions is the faith in single God theory. However, the perceptions about the prophets are different. Christians believe Jesus Christ as God’s son whereas Jews and Islam do not agree with it. For Muslims, Jesus was only a prophet. They give more importance to Mohammad Nabi than Jesus. These differences in beliefs are often reflected in the activities of American soldiers while they operate in overseas Muslim countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. It should be noted that Fridays are sacred for Muslims whereas Sundays are sacred for Christians. So, American soldiers working in Muslim countries may try to give more importance to Sundays while they devalue the importance of Fridays. These things often raise cultural conflicts between locals and American soldiers. “U.S. Retired Air Force Captain Sydney Savion describes the experience of transitioning from the military as a classic culture shock whereas Psychologist Tony Barrick points out that civilian life has its own stresses and challenges” (Anderson, 2011, p.26). Military culture and civilian culture are entirely different. Discipline is the most important quality necessary in military life whereas freedom and liberties are the most important aspects of American social life. Since discipline and freedom travels in opposite directions, it can be concluded that military life is just opposite to the civilian life. Because of such huge differences, retiring military personnel often get confused in leading a normal civilian life. The things which were prohibited to them in military life are easily available in their civilian life. Therefore, they may face a cultural shock during the initial periods of transition from military life to civilian life. Conclusions Military life and civilian life are entirely different. Even though military personnel have more power, they have less liberties and freedom compared to civilians. Because of the huge power enjoyed by military people, they often think that their duty is to exercise power in all circumstances. Such perceptions often end up in unwanted incidents in war fronts. Military should be taught the cultural differences between communities while operating in overseas countries in order to avoid culture shocks. Proper training should be provided to all military personnel in order to overcome culture shocks. References Azari, J., Dandeker, C & Greenberg, N. (2010). Cultural Stress: How Interactions With and Among Foreign Populations Affect Military Personnel. Armed Forces & Society (0095327X), Jul2010, Vol. 36 Issue 4, p585-603. DOI: 10.1177/0095327X09358648 Anderson, J.R. (2011). Going civilian. Air Force Times, Jul. 2011 EDGE Supplement, p26-29 Higgins J.B. (2006). Culture Shock: Overhauling the Mentality of the Military Retrieved from http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/culture-shock-overhauling-mentality-military Wilson, D.S. (2011), Cultures—and Their Differences—Matter. ARMY Magazine. September 2011 Read More