Stoicism and the Profession of Arms

He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

In the new millennium Western militaries spend a great deal of their resources on training and arming uniformed professionals for the instrumental rigours of operational service. Most modern armed forces equip their personnel with the latest body armour, the best protected vehicles and the most sophisticated counter-explosive electronics, as well as expending millions of dollars acquiring the most advanced medical services for those physically wounded or maimed. Much less time is devoted to providing military personnel with existential or inner armaments—with the mental armour and philosophical protection that is necessary to confront an asymmetric enemy who abides by a different set of cultural rules. Much is also made in today’s Western political and military circles about the need to relearn counter-insurgency with its central tenet of winning “hearts and minds” among contested populations. Yet…