American Warrior Ethos
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58315/jcld.v12.331Abstract
American military and political leaders increasingly suggest a strong warrior ethos is key to the military’s ability to succeed. As with many widely-used phrases, “warrior ethos” is open to various interpretations. Yet more than many other pressing political and social issues, a shared understanding of warrior ethos matters a great deal to our ability to maintain national security in today’s complex, rapidly changing technological and geopolitical environment. Who fights—and why they fight—and how warriors see themselves, are not merely academic questions. They profoundly shape how we conceive, prepare for, and counter threats to our way of life.
Downloads
References
Collins, J. J. (2000). American Military Culture in the Twenty-First Century: A Report of the CSIS International Security Program. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies.
French, S. (2003). The Code of the Warrior: Exploring Warrior Values Past and Present (p. 21). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
Fromm, P. D. (2010). Warriors, the army ethos, and the sacred trust of soldiers. Military Review, 90, 19–26.
Gettle, M. (2007). Air Force fosters “warrior ethos” in all airmen. Air Force Print News, March 21. https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/127527/air-force-fosters-warrior-ethos-in-all-airmen/
Huntington, S. P. (1957). The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations (p. 11). Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Jones, S. G., Harding, E., Doxsee, C., Harrington, J. & McCabe, R. (2023). Competing without Fighting: China’s Strategy of Political Warfare (p. 2). Center for Strategic and International Studies. https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-strategy-political-warfare
Keegan, J. (1976). The Face of Battle (p. 298). New York, NY: The Viking Press.
Lamothe, D. (2015). Pentagon review of how troops get recognized for combat heroism in final phases. Washington Post, June 5. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/06/05/pentagon-review-of-how-combat-heroism-gets-recognized-in-final-phases/
Liang, Q. & Xiangsui, W. (2020). Unrestricted Warfare (p. 117). Naples: Albatross Publishers.
McMaster, H. R. (2021). Preserving the Warrior Ethos. Hudson Institute. https://www.hudson.org/national-security-defense/preserving-the-warrior-ethos
U.S. National Archives, Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, September 17, 1787, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcrip, accessed December 12, 2024
U.S. Department of Defense. (2025). The US Military Oath of Enlistment. Military.com, May 8. https://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/swearing-in-for-military-service.html
Warrior ethos. U.S. Army. https://www.army.mil/values/warrior.html
Yi, J. (2004). MCMAP and the Marine Warrior Ethos. Military Review, 84, 17–24.
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Christopher Miller
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to Journal of Character and Leadership Development agree to publish their articles under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License. Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to the JCLD.
