Divided Loyalties: Civil-Military Relations at Risk

In this paper, the authors focus their attention on the topic of loyalty. Their aim is to generate discussion about the topic in forums both formal and informal. It is their contention that military leaders, particularly field graders and flag rank officers, face loyalty dilemmas for which training and experience have not prepared them. This is not a new phenomenon. An Air Force historian relates the reaction of then Air Force Chief of Staff General Ronald F. Fogleman to H.R. McMaster's book "Dereliction of Duty." In his book, McMaster details how the joint chiefs during the early days of the Vietnam crisis allowed President Johnson to misrepresent their views of the crisis to Congress, thus contributing to the nation's decades long involvement in Southeast Asia.