“While lots of us talk about what the military thinks, Professor Urben brings the data on Army officers. If this book just presented that it’d be an important addition to civil-military scholarship. But her analysis and practical appendix for use by Army leaders to instill the nonpartisan ethic in their units will help civilians better understand our military, and help our military better serve our country.” —Dr. Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy, American Enterprise Institute
“This book provides a particularly valuable window into the political beliefs and behavior of active duty (primarily US Army) officers. The idea that leaders of tactical units (battalions, brigades, and other service equivalents) should bear responsibility for the inculcation of nonpartisanship and healthy civil-military norms is novel and even somewhat provocative, but it flows logically from the author’s arguments. This focus and the book’s accessible length make it likely to become a required touchstone. This book is highly relevant to policymakers, with particular strengths that include its clear presentation of contemporary data on the political beliefs and behaviors of active duty cadets and officers, its discussion of new dynamics created by social media, its large number of questions for future research, its pragmatic policy recommendations, and its guide for O5 and O6 commanders to use in teaching their units about the nonpartisan ethic.” — Dr. Suzanne C. Nielsen, coeditor of American Civil-Military Relations: The Soldier and the State in a New Era
“This book is a highly useful reference that could be used readily by professors of civil-military relations. It uses a range of survey tools to glean insights into changing norms within the US military. The breadth and depth of data is highly compelling and rigorous. Dr. Heidi Urben does a superb job laying out her argument clearly and logically. Each chapter is written in a manner that is easy to follow and, importantly, successfully ties in the implications that can be drawn from the statistics. Readers will find themselves carefully reading the conclusions at the end of each chapter and gaining new, important insights. This book offers significant findings to be pulled that will improve the dialogue within professional military education and in senior military leader’s writings to their colleagues and guidance to the forces.” —Major General William E. Rapp, US Army (ret.); and Lecturer in Military Affairs, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School
