"In the Swiss Romande, we say, 'Why do we go to the army, anyway? There are always enough Swiss Germans to defend us.'" - John McPhee, La Place de la C"In the Swiss Romande, we say, 'Why do we go to the army, anyway? There are always enough Swiss Germans to defend us.'" - John McPhee, La Place de la Concorde Suisse
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An enjoyable read. John McPhee delivers a tour of the Swiss Army, full of its contradictions. At once fierce and ever vigilant, it also has (or had, I'm not sure what the current status of the Swiss Army is) its own share of malingering "volunteers." The army is huge, at the writing of this book it was supposed to be 450,000 Swiss nationals serving in the Army. Don't confuse neutral with peaceful. The Swiss spend a lot of capital keeping their country out of the hands of the stray Italian or German fascist.
The book made me think a bit about the different approaches of the Swiss and the Americans to military preparedness. Americans spend an ungodly amount of money on our military for equipment, bases, and personnel (and money taking care of veterans of our many, many military adventures overseas). The Swiss spend money, certainly, but they are a bit like the Marines. They will gladly fly and older plane that gets the job done, keep it going, and spend the money on bullets. Where the Swiss are unique is the amount of time many of the people spend. Most of the civilian army spends at LEAST 1 month a year doing Army stuff. Those of higher rank, might spend a lot more time. That is a cost that can't be under appreciated.
That bleeds into the other dynamic that separates the Swiss form of defense from the American: class and influence. The Swiss Army is Switzerland. Rank in the military influences jobs in the civilian world and vice versa. As much as they might want to paint it a bit milder, the Swiss Army is VERY class conscious. The American military, since it is largely a full-time, volunteer army, depends a lot of the lower class to fill its enlisted ranks. At the top, you also start to see a big cross-over between higher ranks and the corporate world. 3 and 4 star generals retire into jobs at Military Defense companies, and often sit on corporate boards. The difference with the Swiss is this happening at the same time.
The first part of this book (first 90 pages) appeared in the October 31, 1983 edition (Under Reporter at Large) of the New Yorker. The final part of this book (last 60 pages) appeared in the November 7, 1983 edition of the New Yorker....more
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