Contrived ideological furore and media sensationalism is obscuring the point of principle actually involved. The defence force of a democracy necessarily applies lethal force in accordance with international law and military professionalism. No military professional revels in simply killing, no matter how effective they may be at it in the national interest.
Letter to The Australian
Thursday, 26 April 2018
(not published)
Mark Day’s “Battle over the art of war” and Rory Callinan, “General retreat on war imagery”, April 26, unfortunately risk further public confusion on a matter of principle.
Our defence force exists to deter and win wars by killing and by maintaining the professional capacity to do so when needed.
But our laws and the ADF’s military professionalism mean lethal force has to be targeted and proportionate, both legally and morally.
ADF badges, crests, mottos and ceremonial traditions embody the private and public faces of this professionalism.
No member of the profession of arms revels in killing for its own sake. Nor do they needlessly boast about it graphically.
Our experienced Army Chief and RSM of the Army are not somehow being “politically-correct” by cracking down on unprofessional symbology, however well-meaning in some cases, by a few diggers.
Especially where fad-driven symbols risk helping enemy propaganda, undermining community support for the ADF or causing morale problems among all our diggers.
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