{"id":46619,"date":"2018-12-02T17:18:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T17:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/12\/02\/mattis-fix-for-the-civilian-military-divide-stop-being-jerks\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:29:07","slug":"mattis-fix-for-the-civilian-military-divide-stop-being-jerks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/reagan-defense-forum\/2018\/12\/02\/mattis-fix-for-the-civilian-military-divide-stop-being-jerks\/","title":{"rendered":"Mattis\u2019 fix for the civilian-military divide: Stop being jerks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SIMI VALLEY, Calif. \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/reagan-defense-forum\/2018\/12\/01\/mattis-cutting-defense-will-not-help-deficit\/\" target=\"_blank\">Defense Secretary Jim Mattis<\/a> has a solution to bridging the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2018\/01\/19\/warrior-caste-is-a-public-disconnect-hurting-military-recruiting-efforts\/\" target=\"_blank\">growing civilian-military divide<\/a> in America today: Start being nicer to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf we can create a society where respect and friendliness is the passport that we all have when we meet each other \u2026 then the military, who literally will go in harm\u2019s way for us, will not seem alien anymore,\u201d Mattis said at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/reagan-defense-forum\/\" target=_blank>Reagan National Defense Forum<\/a> here on Saturday. \u201cThey\u2019ll seem like your own brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mattis comments came at the end of his keynote address at the annual event, designed to bring the country\u2019s defense policy planners and national security analysts together for a day of debate over the future of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/01\/survey-finds-strong-support-for-military-members-less-support-for-military-funding\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4932339.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Survey finds strong support for military members, less support for military funding<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">More than 90 percent of individuals surveyed said they have confidence in the armed forces.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked whether he is concerned that only a small fraction of American society has shouldered the burden of the recent wars, Mattis said the disconnect between the military and civilians who never served has been a lingering issue since the start of the all-volunteer force in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe asked then would it be good for the republic, would it divorce us from the body politic,\u201d he said. \u201cWould people make decisions quite smug in the fact that their family would not be in harm\u2019s way. We\u2019ve got to consider that. We can\u2019t hide from that elephant in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Mattis said he believes solving that gap lies less in educating the public about the armed forces and more in making all Americans better citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe better all go back to finding a way to embrace one another,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the military, we\u2019re not that special. We\u2019re simply patriots who decide this is how we pay our dues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/01\/mattis-sees-progress-in-afghanistan-but-no-plans-for-troop-drawdowns\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18290196551471.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Mattis sees progress in Afghanistan, but no plans for troop drawdowns<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The defense secretary said if U.S. forces leave today, it will mean new attacks on the American homeland.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Referencing the partisan divide in national debate on Sunday, Mattis noted that \u201ceven if we have very different ideas on how we take the country forward, we probably don\u2019t have big differences on where we want to go.\u201d He said he thinks a return to civility will also mean more public reflection on the role and importance of military forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe military has to remain embraced by the American people, whether you have a family member out there or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/reagan-defense-forum\/\" target=_blank><b>Visit Defense News&#8217; Reagan National Defense Forum site for full coverage of the event.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The defense secretary thinks that Americans need to respect each other more before they can understand and appreciate the military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":97386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":95,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,160,29,162,36,19,95],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3424],"class_list":["post-46619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-digital-show-daily","category-newsletters","category-pentagon","category-reagan-defense-forum"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZRG4NWF6TZFD3H2XFBSORRDG7U","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/02\/mattis-fix-for-the-civilian-military-divide-stop-being-jerks\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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