The Importance of Being Doryphoros

The Constitution was written in blood, not ink. The Capital constructed from bone, not brick. The flag woven of flesh, not fiber. The bodies of citizen-soldiers form the foundation of the United States of America. Citizen Service, especially military service, is integral to building and maintaining great nations. The citizen-soldier, as a complete, balanced person provides counter-measures against over-specialization and preserves the importance of rational, weighted thought needed by the military and those non-uniformed members that command them.

First, I will speak of the background behind the citizen-soldier. Second, I will speak of the citizen-soldier as a balance to over-specialization. Lastly, I will speak of the importance of the citizen-soldier in preserving the union between a nation and its military.

First, some background. Ancient Greece is the first well-known culture to embrace the concept of the citizen-soldier as a model human being. They actually believed in a triumvirate bodied person: a citizen, a soldier and an athlete. The citizen-soldier-athlete was a renaissance man before the renaissance existed; he was capable of contributing equally to the realm of politics, culture and war. His pursuits not only benefited himself, but supported the needs of the city-state.

A fifth-century B.C. sculptor, Polykleitos, created a physical model of such an all around man: the doryphoros, (literally the “spearbearer”). This representation of the ideal man was known all over the Greek world, was later copied by Roman artists and was also the model of Greek classical idealism for centuries thereafter. The doryphoros was Polykleitos´ concept of the perfectly proportioned male–one who was not too tall, not too short, not too muscular and not too skinny. There was the suggestion of movement with his right foot forward; his right shoulder was lower than his left and his left hip was lower than his right. The standing position is known today as contraposto (literally) “counterpoise or balance”). The doryphoros was the artistic personification of human beauty and proportion in Greek art and the sculptor, Polykleitos, wrote a canon of human proportion describing these qualities (Romano).

Second, the citizen-soldier provides balance in a nation where specialization is encouraged. Because of the Industrial Revolution and our desire to have a great many things, including comfort, we have decided that one man, doing one thing is much more efficient than having one man doing many things, just as Aeschylus served as soldier, playwright and costume designer. (Hamilton 72). “Twenty men making each a minute bit of a shoe, turn out far more than twenty times the number of shoes that the cobbler working alone did, and in consequence no one must go barefoot.” Consequently, it would make sense to have one man specialize in shooting a gun and nothing else. However, this kind of extreme soldiering is detrimental. It limits the soldier’s capacity to grow as a person and connect with the rest of society, which is shares many different trades and values. If the value system of the military is isolated, it will become stunted, and then only certain individuals who values are appealed to will choose the sacrifices expected of military service. If only one stratum of people make this sacrifice, then both the republic and military suffers because the equality of shared risk is diminished.

And lastly, the citizen-soldier preserves the union between a nation and its military. The citizen-soldier does so, because he is rooted in society. As an ancient Greek is both a poet and hoplite, so too is an American a farmer and a militiaman, a scholar and a marine, a mother and a missileer. Carpenters, butchers, mechanics and masons fought side-by-side in every war. Ideally, volunteers from every walk of life comprise the life blood of the military. As citizens serve together, it is in their common cause that they discover their common humanity. In this kinship, both identities are preserved, for the soldier could not exist without society and vice-versa.

Armies may not need a broad range of citizens in them, but citizens need to be in armies. It is not good for the republic to have the military by and large represent only one portion of its body politic. It is not good for the civilians who make decisions about the military to have so little personal knowledge of the military. Arguably, if civilian politicians understood the military better, then the kind of military-civilian tensions that have bedeviled American politics in recent years would be reduced. (Strauss)

In conclusion: why does any of this matter? What can you do to help the citizen-soldier. First, you must recognize that:

Citizen Service builds on one of the deepest of human needs: the need to work together in a common cause for the common good. It builds on the need to make sacrifices for a greater purpose than oneself. It builds on what may be an evolutionary instinct from humanity’s earlier days, when tribal cooperation was necessary in the struggle to hunt animals and survive. Citizen Service recognizes something about war that, even as friends of peace, we need to recognize: something disturbing but important. War is one of the greatest of human evils, but all that war yields is not evil. There is, in fact, something ennobling about war, about service in support of a just cause (Strauss)

You can help by reversing the anti-military biases held against soldiers on many American universities. Welcome back recruiters and ROTC programs; encourage collaboration between civilian and military faculty. Encourage critical thought in your classrooms. Restore academic credit to ROTC courses. Welcome veterans to wherever you may work and present the military as a career worth pursuing after college.

I am not encouraging you to champion the old, zealous phrase: “Dulce et decorum est / Pro patria mori” Translated: It is sweet and honorable to die in the service of your country. I want you to encourage citizens to serve their country, to develop into great statesmen and soldiers in a just cause that promotes equality, democracy and freedom.

References
David Romano http://www.weberpl.lib.ut.us/roughdraft/2002/RDwinter02/tradition.htm

Barry Strauss http://www.barrystrauss.com/pdfs/parameters.pdf

Edith Hamilton The Greek Way W.W. Norton & Company: New York , 1993.

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