Military

by C. Kramer

            The Roman military is intertwined with the Roman state much more closely than in a modern European nation. Josephus describes the Roman people being as if they were "born ready armed," and that Romans for long periods prepared to engage in almost continuous warfare, even if it means absorbing massive losses. For a large part of the Roman state exists as an entity almost solely to support and finance the Roman military. Personally I think that this is wrong, and that our government should be focused on more important things such as health care, housing, and education. This to me is far more important than providing our military with all of the money they need, instead of using it in all of the other places that should be receiving it to further help our society grow and thrive. In the legions of the Republic, discipline is fierce and training harsh, all intended to instill group cooperation that can bind the men together into effective fighting units. Unlike opponents such as the Gauls, who are fierce individual warriors, Roman military training concentrates on instilling teamwork and maintaining a level head over individual bravery. Troops are to maintain exact formations in battle and are in favor of sheltering behind one's shield and delivering efficient stabs when an opponent makes himself vulnerable compared taking wild swings. Originally troops were expected to provide much of their own equipment; whereas today they are almost entirely funded by the state, and if this were not so, and troops still were required to provide their own equipment there would be a great deal more of money being put toward more important things such as education. Since soldiers of the Republican armies are also unpaid citizens, the financial burden of the army on the state is minimal. However, since the Roman state did not provide services such as housing, health, education, social security and public transport the military always represents by far the greatest expenditure of the state and this is not how it should be the greatest expenditure of the state should always be what is spent on better improving our economy and way of living. The Roman military is keen on the doctrine of power projection it frequently removes foreign rulers by force or intimidation and replaces them with puppets.  During the time of expansion in the Republic and early Empire, Roman armies acted as a source of revenue for the Roman state, plundering conquered territories, displaying the massive wealth in triumphs upon their return and fueling the economy to the extent that I believe that the Roman economy is essentially a plunder economy which I believe one would not want to be known for, but rather for having an economy where the money is not earned for plundering other territories but for successful business and trade. I do however support all of the good qualities that are instilled in our soldiers, to make them better men, making them work together perfectly because if we could just do the same thing with any citizen we could have a state that everyone would be proud to live in.