The iconic image of the raising of the Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi in the Battle of Iwo Jima personifies the spirit of the American military. This despite the fact that the men in the photograph had been misidentified for decades. But for the US military, it was never about the individuals involved but the timeless spirit of unity, valour and patriotism, beyond individual claims or partisanship. Then US defence secretary James Forrestal later insisted that this galvanising and heroic image would ensure the survival of the Marine Corps for another five hundred years. It defined America’s military ethos for posterity.As the definitive touchstone of military iconography, in 2004, it moved yet another Marine Corps legend, Gen. “Mad Dog” James Mattis (later defence secretary under Donald Trump in his first term) to recollect the assault into Fallujah: “When one Marine thought I was out of earshot… I heard him ask his squad leader: ‘Do you think it’s going to be tough?’ And the squad leader replied in a corporal’s vernacular: ‘Hush and get some rest, we took Iwo Jima. Fallujah won’t be nothing.”It doesn’t matter that James Forrestal had served as the first defence secretary during the presidency of a Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or that James Mattis served as the 26th defence secretary during the presidency of a Republican, Donald Trump. Matters of the military and its hallowed institutional iconography, history and personnel were simply beyond partisan considerations. Therefore, despite serving in a Republican Trump administration, James Mattis never joined the Republican Party and throughout contextualised his job as defence secretary as “bipartisan by its very basis, and that is, the protection of the United States”. Naturally, such nuanced and apolitical bearing could not survive for long under a leader like Donald Trump, and within two years James Mattis had to resign from the Trump administration.Another incident that had dangerously threatened the apolitical anchorage of the American military under Mr Trump in his first term happened with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley. Despite being appointed by President Trump, Gen. Milley knew better than to allow his image or presence getting sucked into any political or partisan position — something that inadvertently happened when he accompanied Mr Trump to an event with himself donning military fatigues. The wise professional publicly apologised and accepted that “my presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military being involved in domestic politics”. A thick-skinned Mr. Trump wasn’t pleased about the apology or about many subsequent non-partisan statements by Gen. Milley, such as: “We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America”.Countless American veterans have shielded the institution from partisan taints, conflations or appropriations, even though it is statistically proven that the majority of US veterans do support the Republicans over the Democrats, historically. Though this hasn’t stopped the Vietnam draft-dodging President Donald Trump from playing with fire with the institution by calling top officers as “my generals”! Yet another four-star officer, Gen. John Kelly, who served Mr Trump as secretary of homeland security and then as the White House chief of staff in his first term was to ultimately discover Mr Trump’s incorrigibly partisan behaviour and decisions. Like Gen. Mattis, he too eventually resigned, with Mr Trump fuming unbecomingly and inelegantly: “John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad general, whose advice in the White House I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON”. Now, within days of becoming President for the second time, Mr Trump has fired Gen. Milley’s successor and the top US military professional, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, as also the Navy chief, Adm. Lisa Franchetti. Mr Trump’s latest defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, openly confirmed that days before his own confirmation, Mr Trump had tasked him: “First of all, you have got to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.” The reason for such unprecedented purge was nothing military or performance based, but continuing on the petty partisan spiel of supposed “wokeism” and “DEI” (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) mudslinging with rival Democratic policies, under President Joe Biden earlier. That the military blindly undertakes institutional changes as per the orders of the civilian government (irrespective of partisanship or personal preferences) and those changes have nothing to do with the individual professionals while in service, is completely and sadly lost on Mr Trump.Five former US defence secretaries (from both Republican and Democratic administrations) have called out the “reckless” sackings, making the US military as an instrument of extended partisan battles. They have severely criticised these as “actions (which) undermine our all-volunteer force and weaken our national security” and called a spade a spade as veterans ought to by raising “troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicise the military”, and added gravely, “that these leaders are being fired for purely partisan reasons”.Unbeknownst to many, Mr Trump has also earned the dubious honour of firing the maximum veterans (over 6,000, and many more are expected) under Elon Musk’s DOGE slashing of the US federal workforce. For now, the disciplined US military is taking Mr Trump’s reckless decisions on its chin, but it is historically proven to be an institution with an apolitical spine that can seriously question Mr Trump sooner than expected.That the US military is beyond partisanship, bluster or “deals” is something that a businessman may never know.The writer is a retired lieutenant-general and a former lieutenant-governor of the Andaman andNicobar Islands and Puducherry
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