Military Leaders in Developing Countries Essay -- Military Politics Ar

Military Leaders in Developing Countries The role of the military in any country is one of prestige. Unless having been through it personally, one could not imagine willingly subjecting oneself to the rigorous training received by so many young men and women today. The role played by the military is always to protect, defend, and assist its country in both war and peacetime, but in developing nations there are quite different roles as well. To be a leader in the armed forces, one must be strong both physically and mentally, as well as having a certain charisma, or skill with people. This is true because in order to lead, one must appeal to those he or she is leading. Not only does a developing country have armed forces for defense, but on occasion, the leaders of third world militaries use them for the overthrow of their own government. Currently serving as a soldier(reservist), I can identify with the saying, "spilling blood in the mud ," as we are trained, contracted, and sworn to do so on command, but if ever asked to he lp plan or execute an act against our government, I would be appalled. This is exactly what several third world country military officers have done. Momar Quadaffi was a Lieutenant in the Libyan military and with the help of some other lower ranking officers, he successfully staged a revolution. Which is not at all bad because he is so popular he can drive around in his Volkswagen Convertible without any type of security but could you imagine Bill Clinton riding a bike down Pennsylvania Avenue without the secret service along for the ride ( I apologize if I have just created a bad mental image)? The point is, where on earth could a group of officers secretly join together and overthrow the government, oth... ...itself. One could make several connections between Castro's military background and government. In conclusion, there are many ideals and virtues that are instilled when one goes through formal military training, and these involve leadership, charisma, and a fair sense of judgment. All of these virtues can be shown in several developing nation's leaders as they themselves have gone through rigorous physical and mental training in order to help them better defend their country and its way of life. Though each leader may differ in terms of race, color, creed, or culture, their primary objective and ideologies are quite similar. While each leader has his or her country's best interest at heart when making policies and decisions that have long-standing ramifications, one can be assured that these leaders and their policies are based upon their firm military training.