The Warrior Ethos

Discourse and gender in the United States Army since 9/11

Bibliographic Data

ID12914766
AuthorsSteven L Gardiner (0000-0002-6483-160X, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume5
Issue3
Pages371-383
Publication date2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1386/jwcs.5.3.371_1
OpenAlexW2052865406
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited7

At the heart of current doctrinal debates in the United States Army between counterinsurgents and warfighters is a fight over the gender identity of the institution itself. With women making up an increasing portion of the Army the default 'maleness' of the institution has become problematic. This has been exacerbated by post-9/11 battlefields in which soldiers not traditionally trained for combat operations, including women, come into contact with the enemy. The Army's response has been twofold. First it has created a new institutional gender identity – the warrior – that is meant to provide women and soldiers traditionally not directly involved in combat with a covering masculinity. Second it has resisted and rejected non-combat operations as insufficiently warrior like. This has created conflict with counterinsurgents seeking to apply modes of power less oriented to destruction – so-called kinetics – and more towards domination and transformation

Adversary · Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Battlefield · Computer security · Ethos · Identity (music · Institution · Masculinity · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · History · Law · Military History and Strategy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

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