Soldiers for civilian development

Alec Dickson

Assuming that defence forces are not going to be totally dissolved or abandoned in the near future, can we to some extent 'tame' them or 'domesticate' them by seeing them increasingly as being capable of fulfilling developmental roles?

'A humanitarian or developmental role would help to make defence forces popular with the civil population'

Probably only the defence forces of the then Soviet Union had the resources in transport and manpower to bring any kind of relief to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Probably only aircraft of the RAF (and German Air Force) were able to drop supplies to the starving population in Ethiopia.

Apart from emergencies of this kind (and flooding around Hamburg three years ago) there are many tasks in development which can best be met by trained, disciplined, mobile units. This role can be interesting for officers and men in the defence forces. It can influence attitudes. Some projects (for example the problems of the receding waters of Lake Chad) could be undertaken on an international basis. This humanitarian or developmental role would help to make defence forces popular with the civil population (and military service more acceptable to conscripts in, say, Latin America). It does not need radical legislation to bring this about. It does not mean making generals redundant. But gradually a change in attitude and in perspective might be expected. It makes sense.

Alec Dickson, 19 Blenheim Road, London W4 IVB (tel 081 994 7437).

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