Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Why leave the military?

Speaking of leaving the military, as we were yesterday, a former Marine offers one reason to get out: The culture of the private sector is more competitive.

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
U.S. Marines assigned to Force Reconnaissance Platoon, Maritime Raid Force, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), conduct military freefall parachute operations from UH-60 Black Hawks assigned to Alpha Company, 1-189th General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) from the Montana Army National Guard in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility, Sept. 5, 2013. The 26th MEU is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force forward-deployed to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility aboard the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group serving as a sea-based, expeditionary crisis response force capable of conducting amphibious operations across the full range of military operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Christopher Q. Stone, 26th MEU Combat Camera/Released)
U.S. Marines assigned to Force Reconnaissance Platoon, Maritime Raid Force, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), conduct military freefall parachute operations from UH-60 Black Hawks assigned to Alpha Company, 1-189th General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) from the Montana Army National Guard in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility, Sept. 5, 2013. The 26th MEU is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force forward-deployed to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility aboard the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group serving as a sea-based, expeditionary crisis response force capable of conducting amphibious operations across the full range of military operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Christopher Q. Stone, 26th MEU Combat Camera/Released)
U.S. Marines assigned to Force Reconnaissance Platoon, Maritime Raid Force, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), conduct military freefall parachute operations from UH-60 Black Hawks assigned to Alpha Company, 1-189th General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) from the Montana Army National Guard in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility, Sept. 5, 2013. The 26th MEU is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force forward-deployed to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility aboard the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group serving as a sea-based, expeditionary crisis response force capable of conducting amphibious operations across the full range of military operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Christopher Q. Stone, 26th MEU Combat Camera/Released)

 

 

Speaking of leaving the military, as we were yesterday, a former Marine offers one reason to get out: The culture of the private sector is more competitive.

Photo credit: Sgt. Christopher Q. Stone, 26th MEU Combat Camera/Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

Read More On Military

Latest

U.N. Security Council Fails to Approve Cease-Fire in Gaza

The Climate Envoys Who Could

What in the World?

New Lifesaving Malaria Vaccines Need to Be Available Now

It’s Time to Reconsider U.S. Military Aid
See All Stories

Editors’ Picks

  1. 1
    What Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ Gets Wrong About War
  2. 2
    How Will This War End? How Can the Next One be Prevented?
  3. 3
    The Shortest Path to Victory in Ukraine Goes Through Crimea
  4. 4
    Why Is Venezuela Threatening a Land-Grab War in Latin America?
  5. 5
    It’s Time to Reconsider Turkey’s NATO Membership
  6. 6
    U.N. Security Council Fails to Approve Cease-Fire in Gaza

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.

Trending

  1. The Shortest Path to Victory in Ukraine Goes Through Crimea
    Argument
    Luke Coffey, Peter Rough

  2. It’s Time to Reconsider Turkey’s NATO Membership
    Argument
    Sinan Ciddi

  3. America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose
    Shadow Government
    A. Wess Mitchell

  4. How Will This War End? How Can the Next One be Prevented?
    Roundup
    Zaha Hassan, Daniel C. Kurtzer, Omar Dajani, Diana Buttu, Peter R. Mansoor, Daniel Levy, Ehud Olmert, Eugene Kontorovich, Elliott Abrams

  5. What Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ Gets Wrong About War
    Review
    Franz-Stefan Gady