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Cold War

The cold war affected the US military in several ways. One way that the cold war affected the US military was that it gave the United States grounds to expand its military. After the cold war, the US was determined to maintain a presence in the pacific and one way to achieve this was to recruit many people into the military to give it an advantage in the cold war. For instance, the Okinawa military base was also established to ensure that postwar Japan was kept on a leash. The US built a perimeter of defense in the Pacific. The defensive perimeter started in the Aleutians, then to the Philippines, going to Japan and eventually Okinawa with military personnel being deployed in these bases (Millet and Maslowski, ch. 19). Okinawa also offered very strategic bases for the United States. Under President Truman, the military was expanded dramatically after the cold war in Asia. This led to the establishment of frameworks for a military complex that continued to exist throughout the cold war. It was also in this period that high contrast troops were enlisted in the military, and this was a massive step towards social liberties.

The second way that the cold war in Asia affected the US is to eventually lead to the United States' involvement in the Vietnam war. At this time, the US Congress and the general public held the view that the military involvement in curbing the expansion of communism was justified. The US would supply equipment and economic aid but would not readily provide troops to Asian nation (Millet and Maslowski, ch. 19). The United States incurred high casualties of military personnel in the Vietnam war, with many soldiers dying while others getting permanent injuries. This led to the deployment of almost 500,000 military personnel at one time, but the US still failed in its mission to pacify Vietnam. Due to the failure, the American public questioned the practicality and morality of the war in Vietnam, eventually leading to the rise of the antiwar movement.

Work Cited

Millett, Allan R., and Peter Maslowski. For the Common Defense. E-book, Simon & Schuster, 2012.

Compare and contrast the discussion above to the discussion below.  What similarities and what differences did you notice?  What conclusions about military history can be drawn from this compare/contrast analysis?

Post-World War II

After World War II, the US military personnel were demobilized; he involved recalling most American soldiers outside the US. The demobilization of soldiers occurred due to public demand, and the soldiers also protested the government's rate was carrying the entire process. By 1947, the number of active US soldiers who were serving outside the country had greatly reduced (Millet and Maslowski ch. 20). The demobilization process was marred by delays because most of the nations where the USA had withdrawn its soldiers experienced a severe shortage of security manpower.

The number of servicemen in the US armed forces reduced drastically. Before the beginning of World war II, there were over 8 million servicemen, but this figure to about 600,000 by 1950. World war II was different from any other war that American soldiers were engaged in because it involved heavy weapons and large bombs, meaning soldiers were at greater risk of losing their lives (Millet and Maslowski ch. 20). There was reduced interaction on the battlefield, and most of the soldiers felt isolated; this was the primary social factor that led to most soldiers quitting the profession after the war.

The demobilization of soldiers significantly reduced the amount that the American government paid to the soldiers to inform wages and salaries. The amount saved would be used to improve the working conditions of the soldiers. Improving the workplace cooled the discontent that was starting to grow in the soldiers and led to their strikes. The number of soldiers that America had lost during the was large, and some soldiers were also severely wounded, meaning there was the need to reduce the number of soldiers to plan on bringing new fresh servicemen. The veterans who participated in the World war needed to get some time off the service because they had seen their friends die; simultaneously, the effects of World war II were traumatizing.

Work Cited

Millett, Allan R., and Peter Maslowski. For the Common Defense. E-book, Simon & Schuster, 2012.