From: Emmanuel Baechler <baechler@lia.di.epfl.ch>
Subject: The need for an Army ( was: Swiss military preparedness?)
Organization: NCR Corporation -- Law Department
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 17:34:50 GMT


From Emmanuel Baechler <baechler@lia.di.epfl.ch>



>>There are several things to say about this. First of all, it is true that
>>our army can be entirely mobilized in 48 hours. This may look impressive,
>>and it was for conflicts of the past, but it is unsufficient now. We have
>>no permanent alert forces, and modern conflicts can start so quickly, that
>>we are no more in a good situation.
>
>>The second important point, is that your report has probably not shown you
>>the very poor motivation and morale of swiss soldiers. Most young men are
>>not motivated at all by the army, Even worse, there is a lot of anger
>against the army, mainly because of its fundamental lack of respect of 
>people.

>What you have seen is basically the propaganda of the swiss army.

>	I realize this may easily stray from the charter, so please
> watch your posts.  Being an avid follower of rec.guns and
> talk.politics.guns, the Swiss model comes up frequently, but both
> groups reference the low homicide rate, not the military aspect of an
> armed populace.  That is what I wish to discuss in this subject.

I am also an avid reader of rec.guns (and a regular contributor), but
I unsubscibed the "trahsy" talk.politics.guns newsgroups many years
ago. Although I live in Switzlerand, I am an NRA member (and a member
of the equivalent swiss group).

I my previous posting I was not speaking at all of gun ownership. I
was not speaking any more of politics. I was speaking of human
relationships (and that's not politics) and of the constraint of
modern wars.

I my second paragraph, that I consider the most important, I was
speaking of the lack of motivation and morale of the swiss soldiers.
That's not a statement about gun ownership, that's not a political
consideration, that's a measurable fact.

It is a matter of fact that the swiss army is used to humiliate quite
a lot its soldiers through different practices. This has caused a lot
of anger among people (from every political side) against our army.
That`s not new and that's admitted by almost anyone here. Our
government is very worried by this, and it is searching a way to
change this pretty quickly. They are especially looking at what's
being done in this domain in Germany (there is a statement in their
rules stating that they are here to preotect human diginity, and they
are very strict with this, even toward their soldiers and officiers).

This point is relevant to the discussion because a militia, as any other
army, needs a legitimity. The need is even stronger in this case, because
everyone has to be convinced that our army is legitimate and that he is
doing the right thing by being in the army, and that this army is doing
the right thing.

It is today a measured fact that people, and especially young people, do
no more believe that this army is doing the right thing. There is even
a growing minority believing that it should not exist any more. A militia
without legitimity and support from its population has more and more
difficulties to do its job. Any project, justified or not, causes a lot 
of opponents. For example, we finally plan to change our interceptors,
but the project has caused a so strong opposition that 500'000 signatures
against it have been collected in less than a month. There will be a vote
about this and its outcome does not look clear.

In my first paragraph I was claiming something much simpler: militia do
not have the degree of professionalism and the quickness of reaction 
needed by today's conflicts. A militia which needs 48 hours to mobilize
is of little use agains an SS-18 or even a SU-27 with modern missiles.
In addition, it is more and more difficult to edutate people to use more
and more complex systems, which are used by professionals everywhere.
This means that we will probably need some sort of permanent unit able
to react immediatly at any time.


Emmanuel Baechler.                        | Tel.: ++41-21-693-2732
Laboratoire d'Intelligence Artificielle   | e-mail: baechler@lia.di.epfl.ch
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne  |     or: baechler@liasun6.epfl.ch
MA-Ecublens                               | Standard Disclaimer
CH-1015 Lausanne	Switzerland

Ban the bomb. Save the world for conventional warfare.

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