The Looking-Glass Army: Patriotism in the Post-Cold War Era

Thirty one-on-one, in-depth interviews with current members of the U.S. Army were conducted in April of 1993. The majority of interviewees indicated that a sense of patriotic service to country was a significant element in their sense of the meaning of being in the military. Most interviewees expressed a belief in America as special, primarily in terms of specific freedoms and based to a considerable degree on personal observation and experience in other countries. While there was no evidence that the end of the Cold War had created either a feeling of triumphant success or a crisis in the meaningfulness of military service, there were indications that interpretations of the meaning and importance of being in the military are partially contingent on the soldiers' perceptions of civilian perceptions of the military. Based on the interviews, a series of hypotheses is presented and discussed.