PATRIOTIC DISSENT

A scholar/soldier’s jeremiad in favor of “Participatory Principled Patriotism.”

Sjursen, a retired U.S. Army major who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, writes in deft, mordant prose about the lost tradition of oppositional patriotism and its intersection with the post–9/11 forever wars. “The vast majority of the citizenry has divorced attentiveness to America’s wars—or even basic knowledge about them—from their definition of patriotism,” he writes. The author began questioning his embrace of a professional military career during “fifteen awful, life-altering months” in Iraq, when sectarian violence was at its peak: “The horror, the futility, the farce of the war in Iraq was the turning point of my life.” Yet the Army selected Sjursen to teach at West Point; although he loved it, his scholarship was solidifying his anti-war bent. While he “deftly flew under the radar for quite some time,” his writings eventually were brought to the Army’s attention, leading to medical retirement. He clearly discusses his complex relationship to his service, noting that less than 0.5% of Americans serve in the all-volunteer military, a situation that leads to “pageant patriotism.” As he notes, “taking this veritable soldier worship to the level society has in the twenty-first century can be perilous for the republic.” Later in the narrative, the author pivots toward a broader historical focus, noting that combatants contributed to counternarratives of dissent during all American wars (except World War II). The ferocity of the Vietnam War led to the all-volunteer military; now, dissent has disappeared from the ranks while “service has become ‘optional,’ the responsibility of a tiny professional warrior caste.” These pitfalls were disastrously enacted during the years since the Iraq invasion. “Every one of Bush’s and Obama’s military forays has sown further chaos,” writes Sjursen, “startling body counts, and increased rates of terrorism.” Yet with guarded optimism, he concludes by calling for “a revitalized movement defined by patriotic dissent.”

A brisk, approachably radical treatise bolstered by its rueful veteran’s perspective.