Bhopinder Singh | Will Trump on the Rampage Challenge the Apolitical Spine of the US Military?

The iconic image of the raising of the Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi in the Battle of Iwo Jima personifies the spirit of the American military. As the definitive touchstone of military iconography, in 2004, it moved yet another Marine Corps legend, Gen. “Mad Dog” James Mattis to recollect the assault into Fallujah: “When one Marine thought I was out of earshot… I heard him ask his squad leader: ‘Do you think it’s going to be tough?’ And the squad leader replied in a corporal’s vernacular: ‘Hush and get some rest, we took Iwo Jima. Another incident that had dangerously threatened the apolitical anchorage of the American military under Mr Trump in his first term happened with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley. Now, within days of becoming President for the second time, Mr Trump has fired Gen. Milley’s successor and the top US military professional, Gen. Charles Q. Mr Trump’s latest defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, openly confirmed that days before his own confirmation, Mr Trump had tasked him: “First of all, you have got to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.” The reason for such unprecedented purge was nothing military or performance based, but continuing on the petty partisan spiel of supposed “wokeism” and “DEI” mudslinging with rival Democratic policies, under President Joe Biden earlier.